Posted on 04/08/2003 4:56:29 AM PDT by kattracks
Iraqis Launch Counterattack in Baghdad
By CHRIS TOMLINSON and HAMZA HENDAWI .c The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi forces staged a major counterattack Tuesday morning, sending buses and trucks full of fighters across the Tigris River in an attempt to overrun U.S. forces holding a strategic intersection on the western side of Baghdad.
At least 50 Iraqi fighters were killed, said Capt. Philip Wolford of Marysville, Ohio, a company commander with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Two U.S. soldiers were reported wounded, one seriously, by snipers on rooftops.
U.S. troops strafed the Iraqis from A-10 Warthog attack planes and opened up with artillery and mortar fire. About an hour after the firefight began, Wolford moved his tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles forward again and retook the intersection.
Wolford's unit then began pursuing the remaining Iraqi defenders.
U.S. tank-borne forces stormed into central Baghdad on Monday, seizing a presidential palace on the west bank of the Tigris and turning it into a base of operations.
Col. David Perkins of the 3rd Infantry Division said about 500 Iraqi forces took part in the counterattack. They were a combination of special Republican Guard, Fedayeen and Baath Party loyalists - ``a lot of civilian-dressed fighters,'' he said.
In the past two days, the Army has seen few Iraqis give up. Many have fought to the death, which seems to indicate these are hard-core loyalists.
Iraqi fighters also appeared to be probing U.S. defenses in other areas, with short exchanges of fire in other areas.
``We are continuing to maintain our ability to conduct operations around and in Baghdad. As regime forces are located, they are being attacked,'' said Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a U.S. Central Command spokesman. ``We are continuing to expand areas of influence in the city, and removing them from regime control.''
A Reuters cameraman was killed and at least four other journalists were injured Tuesday when their hotel in central Baghdad was fired on, apparently by a U.S. tank. The Americans said they were retaliating against snipers shooting at them from the roof of the Palestine Hotel, where many foreign reporters covering the war are staying.
Also, the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera reported that a U.S. plane attacked its office on the banks of the Tigris River, killing a reporter.
Explosions, the thud of shells landing, anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire and the drone of aircraft filled the air in Baghdad at midmorning Tuesday.
For the first time since the war began, residents of the capital could see, rather than just hear, allied aircraft. A lone fighter jet flew over Baghdad, swerving, diving and, at times, causing a boom that rocked the city.
State television went off the air around mid-morning. Many residents were hunkered down in their homes. But some civilians seemed to casually go about their business with a Kalashnikov in hand.
Traffic built up toward the north of the city and thousands of people continued to flee Baghdad to the relative safety of the north and northeast. They fled in all sorts of vehicles - buses, trucks, minibuses and pickup trucks - and took food, clothes, mattresses, blankets and kitchen utensils. Some cars sagged under the weight. Others were so battered they broke down on the road, worsening the already bumper-to-bumper congestion.
Long lines formed at gas stations. Some ran out of gas and closed; others were taken over by the military.
Uncollected garbage piled up in some sections of the city.
The counterattack began shortly after dawn, when more than 20 buses and trucks dropped off dozens of Iraqi foot soldiers firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. tanks blocking an intersection leading to a bridge over the Tigris, Wolford said.
Two A-10s strafed the building tops and the street with 30mm rapid-fire cannon that reverberated across the city. Wolford asked if the jets could also hit bunkers built in a city park.
``If they can hit that bunker complex. we'll be set to go back in,'' Wolford told a flight controller, who was directing the pilots.
``Two ships are coming in hot,'' Capt. Todd Smith, the controller, replied. ``How are they are working for you?''
``They're a beautiful thing,'' Wolford said, after two strafing runs.
The A-10s had to leave to refuel, but soon British Tornado fighter jets were overhead with precision-guided bombs. Wolford called for those to hit the buildings occupied by snipers.
Around daybreak, troops with the Army's 101st Airborne Division launched an attack on an eight-story former Republican Guard headquarters about half a mile from the airport. Two Iraqis were reported killed in the gun battle. There were no U.S. casualties.
The Army had come under fire from fighters in the building in previous days.
04/08/03 07:45 EDT
Can you imagine being peppered with 30mm rounds? Geez. These suicide fighters are nuts.
That's why they call them that.
Correction, they were nuts, now their dead.
I'm not sure that this rises to the level of "counterattack".
Note a new spin. Since when the army regulars have become "fighters?"
Ah, my mistake: I am supposed to think of them as "freedom fighters."
note to civilians. if you carry a kalashnikov, you will be shot dead. lara logan is being paid weep for you. enjoy.
Did you read what he said yesterday. "We are victorious, except for some technicalities".
Please tell me that b*tch wasn't CRYING on the air. If she did, CBS needs to be Freeped to within an inch of its life.
I'm still laughing from reading that they were bussed in. It's a war! it's a school trip! Wait, you're BOTH right! Haaaaa haa....
Major counter attack? Lets do the math. Knowing that most, if not all of the attackers wound up dead, I'd say this was a skirmish. 50 Iraqis, probably about 8 Mitsubishi Monterros, 4 Toyota Cressidas, and circa 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser. Then again, better make that an Iraqi batallion.
Also, the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera reported that a U.S. plane attacked its office on the banks of the Tigris River, killing a reporter.
It seems that there are some snipers who thought we would hesitate to target them if they perched on hotels and offices containing reporters. As with much of the rest of this operation, it is the troops of the Baath Socialists who are at the receiving end of most surprises in the conflict.
Methinks these are the Iraqis who are going to be drawn and quartered, burned at the stake, hanged, spit upon and beaten to death by the free Iraqis so they figure what have they got to lose.
IIRC there are no spent casings ejected. One of the design difficulties of the Warthog was that the cannon fires so fast the spent casings could rip up the wings if they were ejected. Therefore they are kept inside the weapon system. I may be remembering wrong or things may have changed.
I do know the cannon is powerful enough to stop the Warthog in the sky if the plane is flying slowly enough. I also once saw what a 2 second burst did to a 30 foot pile of sand. I would definately not want to be the enemy of a Warthog.
Shalom.
I have not solidified this opinion, but it appears that their extra degree of openness ---- recklessness even --- stems from desperation. Ever since Vietnam, America was on the defensive abroad and, most importantly, at home. You could throw any dirt on "the system," "corporations," etc. --- and nobody would blink. The elites have taken all key posts from which you can receive information: media, universities, and governmental agencies (unfortunately, it is not widely known that, when the 1917 communist revolt in Russia was executed, the radio station was on the list of the first fwe targets to be taken over; they always knew the value of propaganda). After some time, they grew accustomed to hearing only their own voice. Well, as in a regular conversation, when you are the only one speaking, you don't have to yell.
Enter Sep 11 atrocity. All of a sudden, the whole country got awakened to the values of real America, which is not represented fully on the pages of newpapers. Of a sudden the country has shown that it consists of and values people who build it. As the war approached, the left discovered that the country actually supports traditional values and, in particular, truly respects our troops.
The Left, which was lulled by the invicibility of Clinton, who servived no matter what assaults on this country he perpetrated, has not expected any of that. I think that what we see is panic. They thought that only "right-wing nuts" listen to Rush Limbaugh, but it turns out is middle America. They thought that they will go into the streets with their anti-War demonstrations and bring about our defeat as they did in the case of the VIetnam war. That also did not resonate --- to the extent that even CNN now is turning away from them.
So in panic, being on the defensive, they drop pretenses of civility. All of their ugliness comes out, from anti-Americanism to anti-Semitism.
I just hope that it will be made explicit for the general public and remembered by it. In contrast to Vietnam, we have nowhere to retreat. They cane here, and it is now our own homes and families that are in danger.
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