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US meets sporadic resistance in two-pronged attack near Baghdad
( 2003-04-03 07:52 ) (7 )

United States Army and Marine divisions reached the outskirts of Baghdad today after surging past the remnants of Republican Guard units in a two-pronged attack that met only "sporadic" resistance.

"I would say that the Medina and Baghdad Divisions are no longer credible forces," Maj. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal of the Army, vice director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the Pentagon.

American officials said artillery fire and the daily, relentless waves of airstrikes had destroyed the two divisions, which were to protect the southern approaches to the capital. The Republican Guard is regarded as the best-equipped and most loyal of Saddam Hussein's forces.

But today, long columns of tanks and armored vehicles rumbled toward the capital in broad daylight, passing burned-out Iraqi vehicles and taking dozens of prisoners.

"We've moved to within 30 miles of Baghdad, but there remains tough fighting ahead," General McChrystal told reporters.

Other reports said troops had advanced to within 22 miles of the Iraqi capital, setting the stage for a battle of Baghdad.

American forces are pointing a "dagger" at Baghdad and are active to the west, east and south of Karbala, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks of the Army said today at a news briefing at the United States' forward headquarters in Qatar.

"We will approach Baghdad," he said. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime and will remain pointed at it until the regime is gone. The dagger remains firmly in our grasp and under good control. When it's time to be applied further, it will be applied further."

In Baghdad, the Iraqi information minister, Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf, denied that American forces had crossed the Tigris River.

"They lie every day," he said of coalition forces. "Therefore, what they say or allege about success and advances in An Najaf and Karbala are illusions. They also said they crossed the Tigris, which is another lie. As is what they said about Al Kut."

On Iraqi television, an announcer read a statement said to be from Saddam Hussein. "Victory is at hand," the statement said. "Fight them so that Iraq, the bastion of religion and principles, will be secured and our nation will come out of this crisis glorious."

The announcer said Iraq had "only utilized a third or less" of its army. Later, images of Mr. Saddam meeting top advisers in a windowless room were shown. It is not known when that videotape was made.

But General McChrystal said American troops were "clearly threatening" the capital and "threatening the core of the regime."

The real test for the American-led forces will come when they reach Baghdad itself. The Iraqi regime said a few days ago that it expected American troops to encircle the capital this week, and that they would be destroyed once they entered the narrow streets of the city.

The massive American troop movement began before dawn today on a moonless and cloudless night.

Southwest of the capital, Army tanks and armored vehicles dashed through the Karbala Gap, a passage between a large lake and the Euphrates River. They were reported crossing the Euphrates after daybreak.

At the same time, southeast of the capital, thousands of marines crossed the Tigris at Numaniyah, near Al Kut, and continued on the north bank toward Baghdad.

As they began their move toward the capital, American troops surrounded Karbala.

The United States Central Command, which is running the war from its forward headquarters in Qatar, said troops had also seized control of a dam on Lake al Milh near the city. There had been fears among American officials that the Iraqis would try to destroy the dam to flood coalition forces.

Farther south, the holy Shiite city of Najaf, a convoy of American troops was greeted with cheers and raised arms as they moved through dusty, narrow streets, television images from reporters with the troops showed.

It was perhaps the first time that American forces had been so openly received, raising the spirits of military planners who had hoped for this type of welcome throughout the country.

Local residents offered information on where weapons were being stored and where mines were laid. The information was accurate, according to military officials and reporters on the scene.

But American forces also faced resistance at Najaf, especially from fighters who stationed themselves in and around the gold-domed shrine of Ali, one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.

Helicopters and warplanes strafed what American officials said were Fedayeen militia positions. American officials said they did not fire on the Iraqi forces in the shrine.

In Baghdad, bombings continued. The main presidential palace complex was struck by a missile for the third consecutive day. The Iraqi government is known to have a series of underground bunkers below palaces, and the waves of strikes are believed to be efforts to penetrate these facilities.

Intense bombing also continued on the western and northwestern edges of the city, where some Republican Guard units were thought to be based.

Reports from Baghdad said a Red Crescent maternity clinic was struck, killing at least one person and wounding dozens. And officials in Baghdad brought reporters to Hilla, about 90 miles south of the capital, where they said cluster bombs had killed more than a dozen civilians.

Farther south, in Nasiriyah, American forces rescued Pfc. Jessica Lynch of the Army in a nighttime raid. Private Lynch was taken prisoner after her unit was attacked on March 23, after making a wrong turn.

Central Command showed videotape of troops carrying Private Lynch on a stretcher to an aircraft. General Brooks said 11 bodies were also recovered in the raid. Two were found in the morgue of the hospital where Private Lynch had been held and others were buried near the hospital. An Iraqi captured in the raid led American commandos to the bodies.

Of the six Republican Guard divisions, four are defending the southern approaches to the capital. Both the Baghdad Division and the Medina Division, near Karbala, have been pounded around the clock by bombing raids and artillery and rocket barrages.

American officials said the bombardment had reduced the strength of both divisions by more than 50 percent.

"They're in serious trouble, and they remain in contact now with the most powerful force on earth," General Brooks said of the remaining Republican Guard units.

The commander of British forces in Iraq, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, confirmed that the latest assaults by his American allies marked the start of a momentous phase.

"This is certainly a decisive engagement in which we are now just beginning with the Republican Guard," he said. "The point I would make, though, is that decisive phases often take time. I wouldn't want to give you the impression that within a day or two this is going to be finished."