Republican Guard

WASHINGTON -- A key to victory over Iraq may be destructio of the much-publicized Republican Guard, an elite outfit that started as protector of the Baghdad regime and grew into a heavily armored offensive force during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.U.S. military briefing officers in Washington and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said that the guard numbered 150,000 troops and that "successful" bombing strikes were being run against their widely dispersed positions. No definition of "successful" was given.

THE SEIGE of Fallujah has become the story of Iraq, writ small - an emblematic morality tale. Here was a place that spelled trouble. Something had to be done to clear it out. So the U.S. Marines hit it with force; no one paused to consider the implications. The operation was less than a brilliant success, not on military terms but on political ones. Startled by the anger of ordinary people, the American authorities began casting about for a solution. They turned, both in Fallujah and in Iraq as a whole, to people who were once part of the problem.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The No. 10 most-wanted Iraqi official surrendered yesterday, as U.S. military officials launched a half-dozen overnight raids and stationed soldiers at gas stations in a high-profile campaign to battle lawlessness on the streets. Gen. Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, a former top official of the elite Republican Guard military units, surrendered to U.S. forces in Baghdad, defense officials said. The arrest of al-Tikriti, a cousin of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the "queen of clubs" card in the Army's most-wanted deck, came after an expanded cadre of U.S. troops acting as police went on 400 patrols and raided six sites.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A sniper shot and killed a U.S. soldier on patrol in a northwestern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital on Monday night, the 11th serviceman to die in a series of guerrilla assaults against U.S. forces in the past three weeks. Military officials said the soldier, a member of the 1st Armored Division, had been sitting in his vehicle just before midnight when he was struck in the back by a small-caliber bullet. He was rushed to a battalion aid station, where he died from the wound.

WASHINGTON - Of all Saddam Hussein's military forces, the Republican Guard divisions that U.S.-led forces now face on the outskirts of Baghdad are the best equipped, most loyal and most ruthless. The Republican Guard's strength is estimated at more than 80,000 soldiers, is organized into six divisions and includes more of Hussein's fellow Sunni Muslim tribesmen than during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Many of the guard's commanders are relatives of Hussein, and its overall commander is the Iraqi leader's son Qusai.

WASHINGTON -- American troops defeated Republican Guard soldiers in a fierce skirmish for control of a crucial Euphrates River bridge south of Baghdad yesterday in the closest land action yet to the Iraqi capital. Iraqi soldiers crouched behind hedges and brick walls, firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at an advancing column of U.S. tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in the town of Hindiya, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. At least 46 Iraqi soldiers were killed, most of them members of the Republican Guard, according to reports from the scene.

WASHINGTON -- Fighting street by street, U.S. Army troops punched their way into the outer defenses of Baghdad early today and battled Iraqi forces over a bridge across the Euphrates River at Hindiya, 50 miles south of the capital. The Americans captured several dozen Iraqis who identified themselves as members of the Nebuchadnezzar Brigade of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. At least 15 Iraqi troops were killed in the fighting in Hindiyah, between the sacred city of Karbala and the ruins of ancient Babylon.

WASHINGTON -- The United States unleashed the biggest ground battle of the war yesterday against Iraqi forces south of Baghdad, launching a much-awaited thrust at the heart of Saddam Hussein's regime. Fierce night fighting was reported as U.S. Army and Marine ground forces advanced on at least three separate fronts across a vast area 50 miles or more from the capital. American troops were battling some of Iraq's best-trained army units, known as the Republican Guard, including elements of the Medina, division near the city of Karbala.

WASHINGTON - In a potentially ominous turn of events for American forces in Iraq, a car bomb exploded yesterday with deadly force at a U.S. military checkpoint near the central Iraqi city of Najaf, killing four American soldiers along with the bomber. Iraqi officials were quick to bestow posthumous honors on the army officer they identified as the bomber, and they pledged that more suicide attacks would take place. Suicide attacks will become "routine military policy," Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters in Baghdad.

The battlefield An American prisoner of war, identified as Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a supply clerk with the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, was rescued and was reportedly taken to a military hospital. She and her company were ambushed March 23 near Nasiriyah. The U.S. military released no additional information. U.S. forces waged a fierce battle with the Republican Guard outside Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, beginning to clear the way for a ground assault on the capital. U.S. Marines waged a firefight against Iraqi forces in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, killing up to 90 Iraqis and taking 20 prisoners.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The No. 10 most-wanted Iraqi official surrendered yesterday, as U.S. military officials launched a half-dozen overnight raids and stationed soldiers at gas stations in a high-profile campaign to battle lawlessness on the streets. Gen. Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, a former top official of the elite Republican Guard military units, surrendered to U.S. forces in Baghdad, defense officials said. The arrest of al-Tikriti, a cousin of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the "queen of clubs" card in the Army's most-wanted deck, came after an expanded cadre of U.S. troops acting as police went on 400 patrols and raided six sites.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The regime of Saddam Hussein is dead. Its trappings and underpinnings are dying under the footfalls of U.S. soldiers. At the dictator's propaganda headquarters, his dark eyes stare up from thousands of photographs scattered on the filthy floors. The chronicles of three decades of rule, of Hussein receiving Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan and kissing babies and mustachioed commandos, have been pawed through and stomped upon by soldiers after being looted by Iraqi civilians.

BLACK HILL, Outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq - It took an anti-tank missile to blow a hole through the steel-reinforced wall surrounding the Special Republican Guard's headquarters at the foot of this hill overlooking the capital. An Iraqi soldier on a roof - or perhaps two or more; in the chaos it was not clear - opened fire as Company B of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment poured through the breach yesterday morning. Spc. Sylvester A. Prince, 19, was among those who rushed the sprawling complex under a volley of covering fire aimed at the roof.

WASHINGTON - "Embedded" is the new media catchword. Meaning that the Pentagon has inserted, or embedded, about 600 journalists with front-line and support troops in Iraq. Many people are applauding this move as "much needed," "cutting-edge" and "transparent." I strongly disagree. I think it puts the lives of our troops in danger while creating serious security concerns for the ongoing mission. For the better part of the last decade, I have worked with the media almost daily, including three years at the Pentagon and during the first Persian Gulf war. I have many friends in the media and have great respect for the profession.

DAY 11 Saturday, March 29 Four American soldiers were killed at a road checkpoint near Najaf when a suicide bomber driving a taxi drew them near his vehicle. U.S. forces found bodies of some coalition troops in graves near Nasiriyah, military officials confirmed. Iraq's Ministry of Information building was damaged in a U.S. missile attack before dawn. U.S. forces stopped launching Tomahawk cruise missiles over parts of Saudi Arabia after some of the missiles landed in that country's desert.

AL MUHAYDI AS SALIH, Iraq - It was early morning, and the blue skies over this farming community less than 20 miles south of Baghdad turned black and hazy with the smoke of burning oil. It was also the beginning of one of the longest, hardest days to date for members of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. Before it was over, one Marine was killed in action by a sniper and at least two others were injured. An M-1 Abrams tank - considered the safest ride in Iraqi because so little could destroy it - was left smoldering on the highway, its ammunition shooting and spraying like a fireworks show.

DAY 11 Saturday, March 29 Four American soldiers were killed at a road checkpoint near Najaf when a suicide bomber driving a taxi drew them near his vehicle. U.S. forces found bodies of some coalition troops in graves near Nasiriyah, military officials confirmed. Iraq's Ministry of Information building was damaged in a U.S. missile attack before dawn. U.S. forces stopped launching Tomahawk cruise missiles over parts of Saudi Arabia after some of the missiles landed in that country's desert.

WASHINGTON - Much work remains to be done on the road to Baghdad, and the likely urban fight ahead could still be tough as well, even if it is extremely good news that Republican Guard divisions south of Iraq's capital have been seriously hurt. But if we seriously degrade several of Iraq's half-dozen Republican Guard divisions before that final battle, and have to face only perhaps 30,000 to 50,000 Special Republican Guard and fedayeen and related personnel in the engagement, the task will not be as hard as it might have been.

AZIZIYAH, Iraq - Iraqi civilians streamed out of Baghdad and its surrounding cities yesterday, as U.S. Marines approaching the capital from the southeast raced ahead to farmlands just beyond the city's edge. The bulk of the 1st Marine Division crossed the Tigris River yesterday and wheeled northward, pausing to crush a group of several hundred Iraqi soldiers who decided to stand and fight. By nightfall, the lead units of the American force were within 25 miles of the outskirts of the capital, forming a powerful vice with the 3rd Infantry on the western side of the city.