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Troops meet setbacks { March 24 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18659-2003Mar24.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18659-2003Mar24.html
Troops Meet Setbacks on Road to Baghdad
By MEG RICHARDS
The Associated Press
Monday, March 24, 2003; 9:57 AM
Coalition troops pressed toward Baghdad with new wariness on Monday, as militiamen loyal to Saddam Hussein proved they were not a beaten force and sandstorms snarled the advance. Iraq claimed to have shot down two U.S. helicopters and taken two pilots prisoner, a day after more than 20 Americans were killed or captured.
Facing a pattern of deadly ambushes and ruses, and with many of Saddam's supporters discarding their uniforms in favor of civilians clothes, coalition forces responded with tough new tactics in the south. U.S. officials also confirmed their forces have arrived in northern Iraq, and have been operating there for about 24 hours, though few details were released.
Saddam, in an appearance that seemed calculated to show he remained at the helm, sought to rally his people Monday with a televised speech. Iraqi TV later showed images of what appeared to be a downed U.S. Apache attack helicopter sitting largely undamaged in a grassy field. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf claimed peasants had shot down two Apaches, and two pilots were in custody.
U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks later confirmed that one helicopter and two pilots were missing in action.
Meanwhile, a brutal sandstorm with howling winds stalled U.S. troops about 50 miles south of Baghdad, near Karbala, a city holy to Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims. As the 7th Infantry Regiment pressed north, Iraqi militiamen shot mortars at a supply convoy of Humvees and cargo trucks. There were no casualties. Commanders requested air support, but the Iraqis were able to flee easily in small, civilian trucks.
Armed members of Saddam's Baath party militia have increasingly been attacking coalition supply lines in this way.
With tension about such attacks mounting, Marines operating in the south took a tough tact with Iraqis they encountered Monday, forcing men from vehicles, questioning them and then slashing their tires to make sure they wouldn't harass other convoys.
In the Iraqi navy port of Az Zubayr, which the coalition claimed Sunday, a Marine patrol reported being fired upon from a stand of trees; Marines responded with tanks and artillery fire. It was not immediately clear who fired on the patrol, and there were no casualties.
Coalition officials rejected suggestions that continued Iraqi resistance or casualties had knocked war plans off balance.
"I think that within three days of real military operations beginning, the idea that somehow people are losing confidence or heart is nonsense," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said. "This is a difficult, demanding, complex, sophisticated military operation. It is not going to be over in a matter of days."
British spokesman Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt confirmed coalition forces had exchanged new fire Monday with Iraqis on the outskirts of Basra, Iraq's main southern city, where the allies earlier captured an airport and a key bridge. Commanders held off storming the city, hoping its Iraqi defenders would give up, but they have held firm. McCourt said such resistance was not unexpected.
"This is not a video game where everything is clear and neat and tidy," McCourt said. "Some enemy who feel that they want to carry on fighting will inevitably do so. ... This does not come as a shock to us."
In another signal that the situation remained intense, the coalition canceled press tours of the strategic southern port of Umm Qasr and the Rumeila oil fields, which Iraqi forces set ablaze early in the ground war. Fighting in that area was fierce enough to drive civilian firefighters away.
Saddam appeared relaxed and healthy on Iraqi TV - strikingly different from the way he looked in the speech aired Thursday, the day the air assault began. In full military dress, he assured Iraqis "victory will be ours soon," and specifically mentioned the defiant resistance of Iraqi forces in Umm Qasr, which U.S. and British forces have struggled to hold since Saturday.
The reference seemed designed to allay any suspicion that the address had been taped earlier, or that Saddam had been wounded or killed last week.
Saddam praised his supporters for their resistance. In one incident Monday near An Nasiriyah, a crossing point over the Euphrates River, a group of Iraqis waved a white flag in surrender, then opened up with artillery fire. Another group appeared to welcome coalition troops, then attacked them, U.S. officials said.
Up to nine Marines died and a dozen U.S. soldiers were missing and presumed captured after the surprise engagements. Two British soldiers were missing after a convoy of vehicles they were traveling in was attacked in southern Iraq. Additionally, two Marines were killed in accidents, military officials said Monday.
In images shown on Iraqi television Sunday, five captured U.S. soldiers - four men and a woman - appeared frightened but resolute as they answered questions. Arab television also showed what it said were four American dead in an Iraqi morgue.
Iraqi officials have offered repeated assurances that the prisoners would be treated according to the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. military says it has more than 2,000 Iraqi prisoners of war; British officials said they had processed almost 1,000 by Monday. But the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that it had not been granted access to prisoners held by either side.
In Baghdad, black smoke from fires set to obscure targets concealed the sun and gave the capital city a bleak, mid-winter atmosphere. Despite violent bombardments early Monday, people were out and some shops were open - though mostly those selling suitcases.
Outside An Nasiriyah, the mood among Marines was somber and tense, particularly as news spread about their comrades who were killed while trying to take in prisoners of war. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid of Central Command said the faked surrender had sparked the "sharpest engagement of the war thus far." For leaders of the coalition, thoughts that Saddam's defenders would surrender easily have faded away.
"Clearly they are not a beaten force," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "This is going to get a lot harder."
U.S. officials did herald one promising discovery Sunday: a suspected chemical factory near the Najaf, a Shiite city about 100 miles from Baghdad. American forces were chasing down leads from two captured Iraqi generals on possible chemical and biological weapons sites, and following up on a cache of documents found by commandos in western Iraq, Myers said.
Central Command said it was premature to call the plant in Najaf a chemical weapons factory. But such a discovery would be a coup for the United States, which says its invasion is meant to rid Iraq of these types of weapons.
In the north, coalition warplanes bombed a military barracks near the Kurdish-held town of Chamchamal, not far from the Iraqi oil center of Kirkuk. At least six bombs struck Iraqi positions with such force that the ground shook and windows were shattered up to three miles away. Frightened residents fled the area as huge plumes of smoke choked the skies.
"People are evacuating, but not because of the bombing. They are afraid Saddam will respond with chemical weapons," said Ahmad Qafoor, a school teacher.
Elsewhere, a U.S. missile struck a Syrian passenger bus near the Iraqi border, killing five and injuring 10, Syria's official news agency reported Monday. Central Command said it had no information about the report, noting that U.S. forces do not target civilians.
The bus, loaded with Syrians fleeing the war in Iraq, was struck Sunday morning on the Iraqi side of the border, the agency reported. Syria, which strongly opposes the U.S.-led war on Iraq, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
© 2003 The Associated Press
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