March 24 —
Troops pressed toward Baghdad with new wariness on Monday, as
militiamen loyal to Saddam Hussein proved they were not a beaten
force. 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.
Saddam, in an appearance that seemed calculated to show he was at
the helm, sought to rally his people Monday with a televised speech.
Minutes later, Iraqi television showed images of what appeared to be
a downed U.S. Apache attack helicopter sitting largely undamaged in
a grassy field.
"A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches," Iraq's
information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said. "Perhaps we will
show pictures of the pilots."
The Pentagon confirmed that one helicopter was missing but
offered no information about pilots. U.S. Central Command, which
oversees the war in Iraq, declined comment on the footage. A
military spokesman said officials were analyzing the images.
The Iraqi leader appeared relaxed and healthy on Monday
strikingly different from the way he looked in the speech aired
Thursday, the day the air assault began. In full military dress,
Saddam assured Iraqis "victory will be ours soon," and specifically
mentioned the defiant resistance of Iraqi forces in Umm Qasr, the
strategic southern port that the U.S.-British coalition has
struggled to hold since Saturday.
The reference seemed designed to allay any suspicion that the
address had been video taped earlier, or that Saddam had been
wounded or killed last week.
Saddam praised his supporters for a series of attacks Monday that
inflicted the first significant casualties on the allied forces
driving toward Baghdad. In one incident 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. Also, two
British soldiers were missing after a convoy of vehicles they were
traveling in was attacked in southern Iraq, British defense
officials said. 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 the questions of interrogators. Arab television also
showed what it said were four American dead in an Iraqi morgue.
"It's like a bad dream, seeing your son get captured on TV," said
Anecita Hudson, of Alamogordo, N.M., whose son, Army Spc. Joseph
Hudson, was among those captured.
Another prisoner was identified by his family as Pfc. Patrick
Miller of Park City, Kan., the father of two young children.
Iraqi officials have offered repeated assurances that the
prisoners would be treated humanely, according to the Geneva
Conventions.
In Baghdad, black smoke poured from fires set around the city to
obscure targets, hiding the sun and giving the city a bleak
mid-winter atmosphere. Despite fierce bombardments early Monday,
people were out in the heart of the Iraqi capital and some shops
were open mostly those selling suitcases.
Street hawkers cried for customers in the main bus terminal and
hundreds of soldiers and civilians milled about. Travelers arriving
from the main northern city of Mosul reported that Saddam's
supporters have taken up joint fighting positions outside provincial
towns and villages.
Outside An Nasiriyah, the mood among Marines was somber and
tense, particularly as they learned that some of their comrades 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."
A convoy of hundreds of vehicles snaked toward a pontoon bridge
over the Euphrates early Monday, and watchful Marines lay in the
sand nearby, M-16s pointed toward the desert. With many Iraqi forces
discarding their uniforms in favor of civilian clothes, everyone is
suspect, and all 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: a suspected
chemical factory near Najaf. 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.
President Bush kept his eye on the big prize the removal of
Saddam's government and Iraq's eventual disarmament.
"I know that Saddam Hussein is losing control of his country,"
Bush said Sunday upon his return from the Camp David retreat in
Maryland. "We are slowly but surely achieving our objective."
But in the face of bloody setbacks, the steady advance of allied
forces in southern Iraq slowed on the fourth day of the ground war,
although the coalition maintained a position near the city of Najaf,
about 100 miles from Baghdad, and cultivated a growing northern
front.
Coalition warplanes bombed a military barracks Monday near the
Kurdish-held town of Chamchamal, not far from the northern 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.
photo credit
and caption:
An oil pipeline break burns in
Iraq in this image from video early Monday morning, March 24,
2003. The exact location is unknown. (AP
Photo/APTN)
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