Possible chemical munitions found and more on Battle for Najaf

[Skins24]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/086/nation/Early_morning_battle_destroys_Iraqi_columns+.shtml

Early-morning battle destroys Iraqi columns

By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff, 3/27/2003

AJAF, Iraq - American airstrikes and artillery barrages early yesterday destroyed two Iraqi armored columns as they tried to move south from the Baghdad area to challenge the US Third Infantry Division at its encampment about 50 miles south of the capital, US officials here said.

In making the dash toward the US forces, the Iraqis appeared to be trying to stave off an expected assault on Baghdad and to motivate stubborn holdouts behind the American lines.

The fighting began about 2 a.m. and ended after dawn. It flared on both sides of the Euphrates River near this strategic south-central Iraqi city, and was the most intense since the Third Infantry Division encamped near here over the weekend.

Also yesterday, US military officials reported that two Iraqi rockets, seized by American troops Tuesday southeast of Najaf, were suspected of containing chemical munitions. It was unlear whether they had been fired or where they were found. The rockets were undergoing testing in a military lab, said Lieutenant Christopher Pike, an intelligence officer with the Third Infantry Division.

In Washington, a spokesman said the Pentagon could offer no immediate comment on the suspected chemical munitions.

Reports later in the day said a large Iraqi column was moving south from Baghdad toward US forces. It was not known whether that movement was related to the predawn fighting here.

The clashes early yesterday on the east bank of the Euphrates River demolished a column of Iraqi reinforcements headed south to reinforce paramilitary fighters trapped in Najaf between US armored troops, Major Rob Bailes, an operations officer with the Third Infantry Division, told a Globe reporter traveling with the division.

Almost simultaneously, another column of Iraqi troops on the west side of the river was pounded as it approached the sprawling desert camp where the Third Infantry has been resupplying since its rapid drive north from Kuwait. B-1 bombers dropping 2,000-pound bombs and F-18 attack aircraft were used in the assault, which routed the Iraqis after they had advanced to within three miles of the camp.

''We were kind of on edge,'' Bailes said. ''We had our engines running and were readying to leave here and respond to the attack.''

Intelligence officers said the western Iraqi advance might have been a feint to distract attention from the eastern move against the US camp at Najaf, located on one of the main supply routes for US forces heading toward Baghdad.

In all, the Army estimated that the combined attacks, which unleashed a barrage of hundreds of artillery rounds and rockets, destroyed about 30 vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, and killed hundreds of troops, some of whom are believed to be from Republican Guard units. According to Bailes, one Iraqi officer wore the uniform of the Republican Guard, the elite force that Hussein has entrusted with the defense of Baghdad.

''This tells us that Najaf is pretty important to them,'' Bailes said. Although US troops still surround Najaf, military officials today described the city as ''contained but not secure.''

In other developments in the area:

US forces discovered what is believed to be the major ammunition depot for the Najaf area. Approximately 90 buildings stocked with artillery rounds, ammunition, and logistical supplies were seized.

US armor relieved three tanks and three Humvees that had been trapped on the east side of the Euphrates after the bridge they crossed was destroyed by Iraqis. The relief crossed the river north of the isolated troops and rumbled south to protect their withdrawal.

Of more immediate concern were the Fedayeen, the stubborn resistance fighters who had prevented US forces from gaining complete control of Nasiriyah, Sanawah, and Najaf, all of which had been skirted by the Third Infantry on its push north. US military officials have said the Fedayeen attacks, including terrorist-style hit-and-run missions, could pose significant problems as the US supply route is extended farther during the push to Baghdad.

During the fighting around Najaf, for example, a civilian fuel tanker tried to ram a US tank in an apparent suicide mission, officials here said.

''We have to get bullets and supplies up the road,'' Bailes said.

Another unexpected discovery yesterday was the presence of a blond, blue-eyed soldier among the Iraqi troops, Bailes said. The operations officer speculated that the soldier is Chechen, although his nationality had not yet been confirmed.

In addition to the possible use of Muslim fighters from outside Iraq, Bailes said, Hussein apparently has taken some cues from fighting in Somalia and Chechnya, where small, determined resistance has been shown to be effective in protracting a conflict against superior numbers and technology.

Quick, harassing strikes are ''difficult for an armored force to defend against,'' Bailes said.

[tex]

Fox News reported that a couple of Russian technicians were captured with the chem weapons.

[stratoman]

Originally posted by tex

Fox News reported that a couple of Russian technicians were captured with the chem weapons.

This would be more than the smoking gun. I hope this pans out to be factual.

[tex]

Shepard Smith reported it.

Fox News will report items very early in the event then expand with more facts later or in some cases come out with a retraction.

Been watching for confirmation from another source but haven't seen anything yet.

[Mad Mike]

Shepard Smith is a moron. :doh:

After 9/11 he was talking for days about us sending our battleships to Afghanistan till finaly someone told him they were retired years ago.

I've lost count of the stupid things I've heard him say. Whenever I see him I just want to :puke:

[The Wicked Wop]

:shootinth

[PCS]

You mean this guy Mike? (uh oh... I could owe for whatever Mikes drinking )

Hope that there are follow ups to that chemical warfare news.

[tex]

Originally posted by Mad Mike

Shepard Smith is a moron. :doh:

After 9/11 he was talking for days about us sending our battleships to Afghanistan till finaly someone told him they were retired years ago.

I've lost count of the stupid things I've heard him say. Whenever I see him I just want to :puke:

He does report with a little extra exuberance, meaning he is quick to pull the trigger on a headline. That's why I felt it necessary to mention that he reported it. As they say " Fox reports, you decide".

I'm still deciding on this one.

[Mad Mike]

:toilet: :puke:

Really though. It's like watching a touchy feely train wreck in 3D with surround sound. He reminds me of Reggis Philbin (sp). Maybe he would be OK for Entertainment Tonight or something but someone that stupid has no business doing the news.

:twitch:

[tex]

Originally posted by Mad Mike

:toilet: :puke:

Really though. It's like watching a touchy feely train wreck in 3D with surround sound. He reminds me of Reggis Philbin (sp). Maybe he would be OK for Entertainment Tonight or something but someone that stupid has no business doing the news.

:twitch:

It's possible somewhere in the bowels of Fox a heavy has decided that Smith speaks to a demographic Fox needs for ratings.

No one is ever going to mistake him for Walter Cronkite however.

This sounds like something. An illegal flow of weapons to the Iraqis is coming from somewhere.

RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz is embedded with a unit of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division currently outside Najaf, a city in central Iraq now encircled by U.S. troops following 36 hours of heavy fighting. He reports that U.S. troops are encountering an unanticipated, and formidable, weapon in the Iraqi arsenal -- Russian-built Kornet antitank missiles.

Najaf, Central Iraq (RFE/RL) -- U.S. military intelligence is warning American troops that Iraqi soldiers have begun to use a wire-guided missile system against American tanks that the U.S. military previously did not know they possessed...

It is called the AT-14 Kornet surface-to-surface missile. It has a range of 3.5 kilometers, and it is emerging as the Iraqis' most effective direct-fire weapon against U.S. armor in the desert of southern Iraq.

Iraqi commandos traveling in three-man teams dressed in black civilian robes and riding in Nissan pickup trucks have been moving against the flanks of columns of armor from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division and launching broadside attacks from several kilometers away using the system. Those attacks have already disabled at least two Abrahms tanks and one Bradley armored troop carrier.

U.S. military intelligence officials are extremely interested in capturing one of the missiles intact. They also are instructing American soldiers who destroy one of the Kornet launchers to save the remains of the system for close inspection.

The Kornet is a Russian-built missile system developed by the KBP Instrument Design-Making Bureau in Tula. It is primarily designed to destroy tanks, but can also be used against fortifications, entrenched troops, and small-scale targets. It has been used by the Russian Army and has reportedly been sold to the Syrian Army.

The appearance of the Kornet system in Iraq is of particular interest to U.S. officials because of a recent dispute with Moscow over its alleged weapons sales to Baghdad. The U.S. State Department has accused KBP of supplying Iraq with the Kornet missiles, something KBP and Moscow have vehemently denied.

In a phone call on 24 March with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the American allegations of Russian sales of missiles, night-vision goggles, and radio-jamming equipment were "groundless."