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Did Americal military prowess and hi-tech weaponry give America an easy victory over Saddam Hussein's army? "Nyet", says Russian ambassador to Iraq. The Ambassador, Vladimir Titirenko, told Moscow's NTV, "I am confident that the Iraqi generals entered into secret deal with the Americans to refrain from resistance in exchange for sparing their lives." Titorenko also told NTV that it was "most probable" that Saddam and his top aides were killed during America's aerial bombardment of his many bunkers. Le Monde also reported that Maher Sufyan, Commander of the Republican Guard, reached an agreement with American forces in which he ordered...

IN THE WESTERN IRAQI DESERT (AFP) - The commander of 16,000 Iraqi army troops who controlled the vast area along the Syrian border formally surrendered to US forces, marking another dramatic step toward the end of the Iraq war. The surrender came as the US-led coalition focuses growing attention on Syria, which Washington and London allege is hiding chemical weapons and had been cooperating extensively with the now-toppled regime of Saddam Hussein. "I am ready to help. Thank you for liberating Iraq and making it stable," said a clearly emotional General Mohammed Jarawi, after inking the formal agreement under a...

The Secret WarIt’s been the best-covered war in history. But the key to success was what we didn’t see: Special Forces, psyop, the air war—and the utterly inept Iraqi Army By Evan Thomas and Martha Brant NEWSWEEK April 21 issue — Know thine enemy is a cardinal rule of war. Ignorance was costly for American soldiers fighting guerrillas in Vietnam. Before plunging into Iraq, U.S. psychological-warfare operators studied certain cultural stereotypes. ONE WAS THAT young Arab toughs cannot tolerate insults to their manhood. So, as American armored columns pushed down the road to Baghdad, 400-watt loudspeakers mounted on Humvees...

<p>April 13, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's military commanders forced their troops to hold their positions and face slaughter by American forces while they vanished into the darkness in a final act of evil cowardice, The Post has learned.</p>

April 13, 2003 Doubt and Death on Drive to BaghdadBy STEVEN LEE MYERS AGHDAD, Iraq, April 10 — The sandstorm lasted two days, sapping morale and twice turning the setting sun the color of blood. Lt. Col. Steven E. Landis called the slanting and choking sands "the wrath of Allah." Supplies of water and ammunition ran low in these first days of the war as Iraqi fighters launched unexpectedly fierce attacks on troops and supply lines that now stretched nearly 300 miles to the rear. The Army's Third Infantry Division swept across the harsh, open deserts of southern Iraq in...

COALITION commanders were optimistic yesterday the battle for Saddam Hussein’s birthplace, Tikrit, could be won quickly. Unmanned Predator surveillance aircraft have flown over the last big Iraqi city not under coalition control and revealed few defences and no sign of the Adnan Republican Guard Division or regular army troops. Those left may not have much fight in them, said Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks, a coalition forces spokesman at Central Command in Qatar. “We know there is still military equipment in Tikrit area off to the west and in the east,” he said. “It may be there is not much fight left...

Iraqi officer reveals army chaos The Republican Guard did not offer as much resistance as anticipated A colonel in Iraq's Republican Guard says he received few orders from the country's leaders during the war. Speaking from his home in a prosperous area of Baghdad, he told the BBC's Andrew Gilligan that the coalition bombardment of Iraq badly affected troop morale, with soldiers wanting to desert every day. In one of the first insights into how the elite Republican Guard has acted during the war, he said Iraq's military leaders only agreed to fight the war in the first place because,...

Pentagon: No Major Iraqi Forces Remain By MATT KELLEY .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Fierce fighting and air strikes have completely destroyed the ability of Iraq's regular army and Republican Guard to mount conventional fighting, and no major military forces remain in the country, the Pentagon said Friday. Though parts of forces and pockets of resistance remain, military officials were detecting no indications of any command and control ability on the part of Saddam Hussein's forces, nor any communication between remnants of forces, a Defense Department official said. ``There is no question the regime has lost control and...

'Iraqi troops to surrender' 10 April 2003 CNN has reported that the Iraqi 5th Corps, comprising thousands of soldiers, and the Governor General of the Mosul region in northern Iraq, will surrender tonight following negotiations.

Where Did All the Soldiers Go?Apr 09, 2003 - 2300 GMT Summary Baghdad supposedly was packed with members of the Special Republican Guard and Fedayeen, as well as remnants of Republican Guard units from the south and regular army reinforcements from the north. They largely turned up missing when U.S. troops arrived. The question is: Did U.S. troops meet the rear guard, or the last remnants of a shattered regime in Baghdad? Analysis An Al Jazeera reporter told CNN on April 9 "we never saw" members of the Special Republican Guard, Republican Guard or Fedayeen in Baghdad. He said...

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BLACK HILL, outskirts of Baghdad, April 8 — 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 fired as Company B of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment poured through the breach this morning. Spec. Sylvester A. Prince, 19, was among those who rushed the sprawling complex under a volley of covering fire aimed at the roof....

But things are changing and, as the days pass, minds are changing too. A captured Iraqi colonel being held in one of the hangars listened in astonishment as his information minister praised Republican Guard soldiers for recapturing the airport. He looked at his captors and, as he realised that what he had heard was palpably untrue, his eye filled with tears. Turning to a translator, he asked: "How long have they been lying like this?"

AMARAH, Iraq -- The Marines of Charlie Company did not sleep well Monday night. The next day's mission was their most serious yet -- a probable tank battle with an Iraqi armored division in this city on the Tigris River. That night and the next morning, many Marines talked openly about the possibility of dying. At dawn Tuesday, the company rolled out, a vanguard of a task force planning to attack the Iraqi tanks. But not much goes according to plan these days, and that's not always such a bad thing. When the convoy approached this alleged enemy stronghold, the...

The news media has repeated the phrase, "The elite Republican Guard" so many times that it is starting to seriously annoy me, for two reasons. First, I don't like the use of the word "Republican" being used to refer to anything connected with a dictatorship. To be fair, the media can't control that. It is the name of this group of thugs, whether we like it or not. But they can certainly refrain from using the word "elite" to describe a bunch of cowards who are not even real soldiers. When Coalition forces reached the headquarters of what has been...

``The preponderance of the Republican Guard divisions outside of Baghdad are now dead,'' he said. ``I find it interesting when folks say we're softening them up. We're not softening them up, we're killing them.'' ``It's either we kill them or they give up. There's no way out for these guys,'' Moseley added.

Despite being outnumbered, the U.S. group vanquished the Iraqi Republican Guard force within minutes, thanks to superior armed vehicles and devastatingly powerful ammunition. "My commander called me, gave me the warning order to be prepared to conduct an attack on 22 stationary T-72s [Soviet-built tanks used by the Iraqis] that the [U.S.] Air Force had identified," Lyle said. "I selected a force, tank heavy, almost all the tanks in my troop, with some Bradleys [armored fighting vehicles] to go with it."

U.S. Searches Shattered Iraqi Guard HQ By RAVI NESSMAN and ALEXANDRA ZAVIS Associated Press Writers April 6, 2003, 12:00 PM EDT <EXCERPT> SALMAN PAK, Iraq -- Marines pulled intelligence from a shattered Republican Guard headquarters Sunday after a night of fiery bombardments, and they searched a suspected terrorist training camp, finding the shell of a passenger jet believed to be used for hijacking practice. </EXCERPT>

Iraqi regime defiant day after U.S. troops penetrate Baghdad 04/06/2003 Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq – The burnt-out husks of Iraqi tanks littered one of the main roads in Baghdad on Sunday, one day after American troops muscled through the city, but regime leaders remained defiant and appealed for calm. The streets were crawling with black-clad Fedayeen militia, the armed loyalists of the ruling Baath Party, and teenagers with guns. As the scream of rockets pierced Baghdad's skies, Iraqi troops clambered up what they claimed was an allied tank destroyed in a Sunday morning battle. They made "V" for victory signs...

US: 3,000 IRAQIS KILLED Between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqis were killed when US troops moved through Baghdad on Saturday, US Central Command has said. Around 30 tanks and armoured vehicles swept through the city from the southern outskirts. They encountered fierce resistance in some areas and suffered a number of casualties. The operation was designed to show Saddam Hussein's regime that the city could be breached at any time, said one officer. US troops now hope to have Baghdad completely surrounded by the end of the day. A military spokesman said the US Army was moving in from the south-west,...

Apr 06, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Having penetrated Baghdad and neutralized its most potent defenders, U.S. troops Sunday were still facing intact Republican Guard troops north of the city and scattered irregulars who wielded control inside. Coalition planes dropped thousands of leaflets on the city, imploring citizens to stay inside their homes. U.S. officials told MSNBC that a large group of Republican Guard had communicated their willingness to surrender, but whether they were part of the force to the north was not known. MSNBC also reported that in the north of the country a U.S. warplane may...

<p>April 6, 2003 -- GIs delivered another humiliating blow to Saddam Hussein's rotting regime when they captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division southwest of Baghdad yesterday.</p> <p>Two tank companies and an infantry company of the 3rd Infantry Division waltzed into the vipers' nest of the vaunted Medinas utterly unopposed.</p>

Analysis: Iraqi forces are crumbling Matthew Gutman Apr. 5, 2003 Exiled Iraqi Army officers and Israeli experts barely raised an eyebrow at the relative ease with which coalition forces gained a choke hold on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad Saturday. Following a 3rd Infantry Patrol into the what was dubbed "the heart of Baghdad," air force Capt. Dani Burrows told reporters at central command in Qatar that Baghdad is "pretty much cut off in all directions." "Forget what they tell you, no one in Iraq is wiling to die for Saddam. The Iraqi people are tired," Salam A., an...

The mood changes as the marine invasion gains momentum James Meek outside Baghdad Saturday April 5, 2003 The Guardian For years, the story of the Republican Guard has been told as an epic in waiting, the story of an elite, well-equipped, motivated force, loyal to Saddam Hussein, outgunned by the US, no doubt, but ready to force America to fight and slog and shed blood if it tried to take Baghdad. In the cold light of yesterday morning, in a furrowed field by a shelled school building not far from the capital, the reality could be seen and heard. Three...

The commander of the US-led air campaign in Iraq says Republican Guard units outside the capital Baghdad are "dead", following intense bombardment. "The Iraqi military as an organised defence in large combat formations doesn't really exist anymore," Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley told Pentagon reporters. General Moseley also announced that coalition aircraft had begun a 24-hour patrol operation over Baghdad to be able to respond to needs of troops on the ground. The announcement came after US forces - backed by tanks and armoured vehicles - made their first incursion into the Iraqi capital. They fought skirmishes with Iraq's elite Special Republican...

The ease with which United States-led forces have sliced into the heart of Iraq has raised questions about the fighting ability and cohesiveness of Saddam Hussein's much-celebrated Republican Guard. Contrary to expectations, the advance to the suburbs of Baghdad has been unnervingly swift. The famed Republican Guard with its 70,000-strong corps has put up slight defence, certainly not enough to stall or block the progress of the invading forces. “This latest advance does raise questions. What has happened to the Republican Guard? Have they been wiped out, or have they withdrawn from circulation to regroup in Baghdad?" asked French military...

SUWAYRAH, Iraq — U.S. Army soldiers Saturday captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division in this town about 35 miles southeast of Baghdad. Two tank companies and an infantry company of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled through the headquarters unopposed and quickly took over the entire base. It appeared that the Republican Guard defenses had completely collapsed. Outside the base on a three-mile stretch of road were hundreds of bunkers and foxholes and dozens of artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. All of them had been abandoned by Iraqi troops. No troops could be seen....

<p>As the US Army's Third Infantry Division began yesterday to lace together a steel chain of US armor around Baghdad, the soldiers who fight on the ground, and the planners who move them, were left wondering: What happened to the Republican Guard?</p>

One of the most mysterious aspects of this highly mysterious war is the absence of casualties. People get killed in normal wars. Who is getting killed in this one? Not American or British soldiers. The British death toll so far is under 30 and most of the victims have died in accidents. The American death toll is not much higher. As a percentage of those engaged, casualties represent less than one tenth of one per cent. For purposes of comparison, during the Second World War casualties in Bomber Command of four per cent per sortie - say 300 dead aircrew...

American marines advanced to the Baghdad city limits this morning, meeting scant resistance, and stopped at the brink of entry, awaiting orders. Overnight and early today, there was a shattering bombardment of what remained of the Nida division of the Republican Guard, with artillery shelling Iraqi tanks from as much as 20 miles away and B52's firing from above. The reports from 155 mm. guns were so powerful that they blew off the tarps and broke the windshields of nearby American military vehicles, officers said. The First Marines raced behind the Nida division, whose burnt-out tanks littered the roadside. Local...

The main Iraqi force facing American troops on the outskirts of Baghdad is now the Iraqi Army's Special Republican Guard and internal security units that are charged with defending the interior of the city - all told, a force of about 15,000 to 20,000. An unknown number of regular Republican Guard and other Iraqi Army soldiers are also believed to have drifted back into the city. But American commanders are not certain whether they are an organized force or are simply troops looking to escape the battlefield. A hodgepodge of Iraqi soldiers are still deployed on the outskirts of the...

ANALYSTS' VIEW-Where is Saddam's Republican Guard? LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. forces took Baghdad airport on Friday, the biggest prize yet in the war to oust President Saddam Hussein. Below are comments by defence and military analysts on why there was so little resistance at the airport; where Saddam's Republican Guard units may be, and possible U.S. plans for taking Baghdad. SERGEI SUMBAYEV, COMMENTATOR FOR KRASNAYA ZVEZDA (RED STAR) RUSSIAN ARMY NEWSPAPER, MOSCOW "There are only two battalions of U.S. forces at the airport, 1,500 men. It is clear that they will not enter Baghdad now because they have...

Elite Iraqi Guard division defeated-US Marines BAGHDAD, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines said on Friday that the Nida division of the Iraqi Republican Guard had been defeated by U.S.-led forces pushing towards Baghdad from the southeast. The division "has ceased to exist as an effective fighting force," a U.S. military officer told Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire, travelling with the Marines. The officers said that two of three brigades in the division had been destroyed and one was unaccounted for. The Republican Guard, said to be fiercely nationalistic and loyal to President Saddam Hussein, comprises about 70,000 soldiers in six...

Have been listening to CBS Radio News, about 1 1/2 hours ago, they had a direct report from a CBS Embedded with the Marines, who said that a Mercedes-Benz failed to stop at a checkpoint, and a .50 cal machine gun ventilated both the Benz and the driver. Said driver turned out to be the commander of the Al Nida division. Since then no mention of it for an hour until just now a newsreader on the channel said that the Marines had shot an Iraqi General at a checkpoint who had Saddam's phone number on him.

<p>U.S. Army and Marine Corps ground forces smashed two of President Saddam Hussein's prized Republican Guard divisions and then moved relentlessly yesterday to attack other units to clear a direct invasion path to Baghdad.</p> <p>American divisions moved within 15 miles of the capital and began chasing down two other Republican Guard divisions in a two-sided buzz saw of tank fire from the ground, and bombs and missiles from allied jets and AH-64 Apache helicopters. One U.S. military official said Baghdad's outer ring could be cleared of Republican Guard troops in the next two days.</p>

U.S. troops move to 10 km from S. Baghdad NEAR BAGHDAD, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. troops pushed to within 10 km (six miles) of the southern edge of Baghdad on Thursday, and were preparing to fight for control of the city's airport, U.S. officials said. U.S. military sources in the area told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker that advance armoured units of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division had met little resistance as they continued their northward thrust towards the city's outskirts. Elements of four elite Iraqi Republican Guard Divisions were reported to be moving south to defend the city, but...

<p>WASHINGTON - American rockets pounded Iraq's elite Republican Guard, which was heading south from Baghdad today in a desperate bid to protect the capital, military sources said.</p> <p>The Iraqi units aimed to bolster positions south of the city and guard Saddam International Airport, which are under threat by the U.S. advance.</p>

Attack From 2 Sides Shatters Republican Guard By PATRICK E. TYLER KUWAIT, April 2 — In a sweeping advance, Army and Marine forces closed to within 20 miles of Baghdad from two directions today after crippling or destroying two divisions of the Republican Guard that had blocked their drive on the capital. The Third Infantry Division battled forward today from a starting point north of Karbala, 45 miles from Baghdad, cutting through and routing disorganized Iraqi forces with no reports of American casualties on the ground. Rest of article: Attack From 2 Sides Shatters Republican Guard

Division of Iraqi Guard Said Destroyed By NICOLE WINFIELD .c The Associated Press CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) - American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. U.S. forces had entered what U.S. commanders call a ``red zone'' near Baghdad, and Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks warned that it might be an area where the Iraqis would consider using chemical or other weapons of mass destruction. ``There may be a trigger line where the regime deems (there is a) sufficient threat...

BAGHDAD, April 2 (AFP) - President Saddam Hussein said only a third of Iraq's armed forces have engaged in battle with the US-led coalition so far, in a message read out in his name on Iraqi satellite TV Wednesday. Iraq will be victorious against the US and British invaders, Saddam vowed in his new message to the Iraqi people, his second in as many days that he has failed to read out himself. "Fight them. Victory, thank God, is (near). We have only deployed a third of our army, or even less than a third," the Iraqi president said. "Fight...

U.S. Takes On Guard Defending Baghdad By MATT KELLEY .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has begun a major ground offensive against the Republican Guard units defending Baghdad, entering what is expected to be the fiercest combat of the war in Iraq. The Pentagon is still hoping Saddam Hussein's regime will collapse before troops are drawn into bloody urban warfare in the capital, Defense Department officials said Wednesday. The Republican Guard forces targeted in the ground assault are the main military forces standing between American invading troops and Saddam's centers of power in the capital of...

American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. The U.S. forces seized the strategic town of Kut and routed the Republican Guard division force that had been guarding the highway leading to Baghdad. Check Delivery Options | 50% Off-Click Here! ``The Baghdad Division has been destroyed,'' said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. He said that two other Republican Guard divisions had been engaged around the city of Karbala and that coalition forces had seized control of a dam on Lake al-Milh....

U.S. planes pound Baghdad, loud blasts By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. planes pounded targets in the centre and outskirts of Baghdad early on Thursday, triggering relentless explosions with American troops just 30 km (19 miles) south of the Iraqi capital. U.S. war headquarters in Qatar said planes dropped almost 40 "smart bombs" overnight on just one military storage facility in the Karkh district of Baghdad. This correspondent heard a huge explosion in the city centre which shook buildings at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday). The explosion was followed by several loud blasts on the outskirts...

Republican Guard move south of Baghdad to block US SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 3 (Reuters) - Units of Iraq's Republican Guard were moving south from Baghdad on Thursday to try to block a U.S. advance and to reinforce positions around the capital's airport, U.S. military sources said on Thursday. U.S. spy planes had spotted the Iraqi reinforcements moving south from the capital during the night, the sources told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker. He said that U.S. forces, about 19 miles (30 km) from the southern outskirts of the city, were firing rockets north at the Iraqi positions.

American ground troops surged to within 25 miles of Baghdad in a two-pronged attack from the south on Wednesday, smashing Republican Guard units in their path. The discovery of 11 bodies, Americans likely among them, tempered the joy over a POW's rescue. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of (the) regime right now," Brig Gen. Vincent Brooks said as American convoys rolled toward Saddam Hussein's seat of power. Commanders said two elite Republican Guard divisions were no longer credible fighting forces. The American advances brought thousands of troops within the red zone -- an imaginary line on...

Army Fights Republican Guard in Karbala By CHRIS TOMLINSON .c The Associated Press NEAR KARBALA, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers pushing toward Baghdad advanced through a gap west of Karbala on Wednesday after a night-long bombardment of the strategic city and the first major ground battle against Saddam Hussein's hardcore Republican Guard. The Army's 3rd Infantry Division launched a heavy attack on towns and positions north of Karbala, where 2,000 paramilitary members of the Saddam Fedayeen and the Baath Party were believed to be hunkered down. The attacks began around midnight Tuesday. At least 20 Iraqi were killed and an...

It came as a surprise—presumably no less to Iraqi commanders than to American commentators—when the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Division launched their final push toward Baghdad Tuesday night, aiming to punch through the Republican Guard's most built-up defenses. The surprise was that the move came before U.S. reinforcements, especially from the 4th Infantry Division, had arrived in the field. The concern is whether a mere two divisions, plus elements from the 101st Airborne and the 2nd Armored, can do the job. The good news, though, is that the Republican Guards aren't very good and never...

U.S. in Major Offensive Against Guard By MATT KELLEY .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has begun a major ground offensive against the Republican Guard units defending Baghdad, entering the arena where the fiercest combat of the war against Iraq is expected. Pentagon officials said the push would continue until the Republican Guard units were no longer willing or able to fight. The Republican Guard forces targeted in the ground assault are the main military forces standing between American invading troops and Saddam Hussein's centers of power in the capital of more than 5 million. ``The...

A look at the six units of the Republican Guard, which each had about 10,000 to 12,000 troops before the war, and other units protecting Baghdad: -Medina Armored Division: Iraq's best is no longer considered an effective fighting force. It was arrayed near Karbala and was bombed heavily before the Army's 3rd Infantry Division hit it again Wednesday. -Nebuchadnezzar Infantry Division: Most of these troops are to the north of the remnants of the Medina Division; some elements are engaging American troops north of Karbala. The unit began the war in northern Iraq and is now believed to be at...