US troops head toward Baghdad amid setbacks
( 2003-03-24 19:37 ) (7 )

An F/A-18 Hornet pilot Commander Jay Bynum from Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-27 "Royal Maces" gives the thumbs up prior to taking off from the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier for a mission over Iraq March 23, 2003. Iraqi troops and paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein held up a US advance toward Baghdad on Sunday, inflicting casualties and taking American prisoners on the fourth day of war. [Reuters]

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 US 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 US 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. US 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 US-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, US officials said.

Up to nine Marines died and a dozen US 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 US 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."

US 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 US 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 US 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 US-led war on Iraq, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

(AP)