U.S. gathers strength for Baghdad assault

Knight Ridder News Service

NEAR AL KUT, Iraq — U.S. commanders summoned reinforcements yesterday as an American invasion force gathered strength for an assault on Baghdad that could begin within days and must crush some of Saddam Hussein's most hardened troops.

At the same time, the vanguard of the U.S. force braced for heavy combat even before it reaches the capital. Officers downplayed reports that Saddam's Republican Guard were streaming toward U.S. troops, but they said other Iraqi soldiers were moving to bolster the city's outer defenses.

U.S. warplanes bombed some enemy concentrations from the air.

"They're being engaged as we find them," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He said "a few" Iraqi vehicles were heading south from Baghdad toward Karbala, but they did not appear to be in numbers approaching the 1,000 tanks and other vehicles reported earlier.

At the Pentagon, officials released their first official U.S. casualty count of the war: They said 24 Americans were killed, 19 in action and five in accidents, as of 10 a.m. EST yesterday. Twenty-eight others have been injured.

Two other Marines have been reported killed but are not part of the official tally.

In the south, the British siege of Basra intensified as 25,000 troops from Britain's 1st Armored Division cordoned off main roads to prevent Iraqi paramilitary troops from leaving and regular Iraqi soldiers from entering.

The British also fired artillery to silence Iraqi mortars that officers said targeted anti-Saddam demonstrators.

"Iraqi civilians are being killed on the battlefield by Iraqis," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. "The regime has shown its true colors the last few days of fighting."

The condition of Basra's 1.3 million people was unknown, though relief workers said water service had been restored to about half the population and food, medicine and other necessities could reach them by Friday if the area is stabilized.

"Day by day, Saddam Hussein is losing his grip on Iraq; day by day, the Iraqi people are closer to freedom," President Bush told uniformed personnel at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., the home of the U.S. Central Command, which is running the war.

At the same time, though, he cautioned, "We cannot know the duration of this war, but we are prepared for the battle ahead." And, his voice cracking with emotion, he said: "I'm honored to be the commander in chief."

Despite the president's generally upbeat assessment, reports from the field suggested that allied troops were continuing to have great difficulty suppressing resistance behind the front lines and organizing the rest of the drive on Baghdad.

Some units of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division reportedly ran out of fuel and ammunition during its dash to Baghdad. And continuing hit-and-run attacks were reported on rear areas, especially two key bridges around An Nasiriyah in the south.

U.S. commanders at the front were still battling bad weather, unsafe supply lines and spotty shortages of food, fuel, water, spare parts and ammunition, said one official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. In addition, the official said, a series of sandstorms has taken a toll on helicopters, communications gear and other high-tech equipment.

Army doctrine calls for units to have 10-day supplies on hand before launching a major attack.

To help guard the 300-mile supply line, the Central Command's ground commander, Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, requested and received a squadron of armored Humvees and an air troop with reconnaissance helicopters from the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Polk, La. They are scheduled to leave Louisiana on Sunday, defense officials said.

The main action of the coming days appeared to be building in the central region of Iraq, as U.S. Army forces massed southwest of Baghdad and U.S. Marines massed southeast of the city.

Facing the Army outside Baghdad: the Republican Guard's Medina division. Facing the Marines outside Baghdad: the Republican Guard's Baghdad division. Each has about 8,000 of Iraq's best troops and is equipped with artillery and formidable Soviet-made T-72 tanks.

U.S. Marines reported earlier yesterday that a column of up to 1,000 Iraqi vehicles headed toward the Army units was pummeled by strikes from a B-52 warplane, four tank-busting A-10s and two British Tornado jets.

"They are counting the burning hulks," said Col. Dave Pere of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in southern Iraq.

But their superiors at the Pentagon said last night that the column struck by the planes did not appear to be that extensive.

Allied aircraft also stepped up attacks on Baghdad's network of SAM anti-aircraft missiles, in preparation for a possible battle for Baghdad.

Military officials who said Tuesday that they would delay an attack on the capital until resistance was suppressed farther south said yesterday that the assault was again on the fast track.

It is likely to begin in a few days, as soon as the Marines — now 36 hours behind schedule — are fully in position, according to several senior U.S. officials.

American officials believe that isolating and then seizing the Iraqi capital will hasten the end of Saddam's regime, halt paramilitary attacks on U.S. and British forces in southern Iraq and perhaps trigger the hoped-for anti-Saddam rebellions that so far haven't materialized, said the senior officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity.

One official also said that waiting for the Army's 4th Infantry Division, which won't be in position for at least two weeks, could strengthen the Iraqi regime and leave U.S. and British forces exposed to weeks of guerrilla attacks.

"If we don't take the offensive within two or three days, it's going to be a long war, and probably not a happy one," said one senior official.

And so, elements of the 101st Airborne were dispatched to the battlefield.

The division's 2nd Brigade sent truckloads of infantry soldiers and supplies into Iraq, and the rest of the division was expected to follow today.

"Unless there's a mass surrender in the next 48 hours, these guys are definitely going to be a part of the Baghdad plan, whatever it is," said Capt. Kenneth Hutchison of the 101st Airborne. "There's no wishing it away."

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