Wars

Re: War with Iraq

lastwarrior — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:04:22 GMT

We can defeat them easily by using some new tactics.

Re: War with Iraq

PAVEBRA — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:13:12 GMT

yes because there are about 14 of you there total

Re: War with Iraq

King_Wakka — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:09:49 GMT

hey buddy the australian SAS forces went into iraq with the yanks and poms and we have had only 1 casulty so far and havent shot any of our allys

Re: War with Iraq

comandante — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:40:24 GMT

yeah yeah yeah, at this time it looked like us & "friends" could defeat the enemy without problems. but hadn' t we european always said...

Coalition makes key advances in northern Iraq

run — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:07:08 GMT

NORTHERN IRAQ (CNN) -- Kurdish pesh merga fighters, backed by U.S. Special Forces, easily seized the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday, while coalition warplanes pounded deposed President Saddam Hussein's hometown and Iraqi leaders in Mosul offered to surrender.

Thousands of unarmed Iraqi men, partially dressed in civilian clothing, formed a line along the main highway about 100 miles [160 kilometers] northeast of Baghdad, walking barefoot on the hot tarmac toward Kurdish-controlled areas, CNN's Brent Sadler reported Thursday morning. The men identified themselves as soldiers and were described by Sadler as "beaten and defeated."

The men said they had walked for hours or days, and had handed over their weapons to Kurdish forces.

In Baghdad, which U.S. Central Command characterized as "still an ugly place," U.S. troops skirmished with remaining Iraqi forces and were attacked by a suicide bomber.

A battalion from the 173rd Airborne Brigade has reinforced U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish forces in Kirkuk, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said at Thursday's Pentagon briefing.

"The situation [in Kirkuk] is fluid, and has been all day," McChrystal said.

"Truckload after truckload" of Kurds flooded into the city after the U.S.-backed pesh merga -- ethnic Kurdish guerrilla fighters -- entered the city without a shot being fired by Iraqi defenders, who had apparently headed south toward Tikrit, a Baath Party stronghold and Saddam's birthplace. (Full story)

Kurds dominated the scene in Kirkuk's central square, where they jubilantly followed in the footsteps of Iraqis from the south to Baghdad by toppling a statue of Saddam -- this one in tribal garb -- and dancing on its broken pieces. (On the Scene)

Locals were cheering U.S. troops, who were keeping a "low profile," reported CNN correspondent Jane Arraf.

The pesh merga control nearly 300 villages in northern Iraq.

With the Iraqi forces gone, residents began looting the area -- including a Pepsi soft drink factory said to be owned by Saddam's son, Uday.

CNN correspondent Kevin Sites ran across a large force of Iraqis outside Kirkuk -- apparently soldiers who had shed their uniforms and started off north, away from Tikrit.

Many of those were fleeing the El Haleed military compound, a frequent target of coalition bombers.

Late Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Kurdish troops and U.S. forces from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade had entered Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and were "being welcomed by the people."

The commander of the Iraqi army's 5th Corps and the governor-general are expected to surrender to U.S. special operations troops in the Mosul area, U.S. military sources told CNN on Thursday. Details were being worked out between the Iraqis and U.S. forces, officers at U.S. Central Command told CNN.

Mosul was one of the coalition's prime targets for the bombing campaign. In the past 24-hours, the coalition flew 1,750 sorties, 550 of them strike sorties, Pentagon officials said. Coalition aircraft launched what officials called their heaviest wave of bombing along the burgeoning northern front early Thursday.

The 5th Corps' combat strength was estimated at 30,000 troops when the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began March 20, but it is unknown what toll heavy airstrikes and desertions have taken on its three infantry divisions and one mechanized infantry division, U.S. military sources told CNN. Still, the corps' surrender would remove a significant obstacle to coalition control of the city.

In another U.S. troop movement, the first elements of the 4th Infantry Division are expected to begin moving from Kuwait into Iraq within a few days. It is not yet clear if they will move to northern Iraq or help secure Baghdad.

Fall of Saddam

run — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 17:57:07 GMT

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In a symbolic strike against Saddam Hussein's crumbling regime, Iraqis and U.S. Marines on Wednesday pulled down a towering statue of the Iraqi leader at Baghdad's center.

Marines watched as dozens of Iraqis tied a rope around the statue in Firdos Square and then took turns pounding at the base of the monument with a sledgehammer. An American M-88 tank recovery vehicle, equipped with a large crane, moved in a few minutes later to help pull the statue crashing to the ground.

The Marines put a chain around the neck of the statue and covered its head with a U.S. flag briefly, before replacing it with an Iraqi flag. That flag also was removed before the statue was pulled down.

Iraqis then jumped and stomped on the statue, which had been erected last April 28 to celebrate Saddam's birthday, and then pulled its head through the streets.

Those Marines were greeted by journalists and cheering Iraqis as they took up positions in central Baghdad, but fierce fighting raged elsewhere in the Iraqi capital.

"We thought we were going to get a lot of resistance but we never did, so we just kept pushing and pushing until we got here," said Cpl. Steven Harris with the Marines in the square.

It was a different story for a U.S. Marine column moving into Baghdad from the east, which came under heavy fire Wednesday afternoon at Baghdad University after being greeted by cheering Iraqis earlier in the day.

CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, embedded with the 1st Marines, 7th Battalion, said the university campus was a battlefield, with black smoke rising from several buildings and machine-gun fire ripping around the fighting vehicles.

"This was not the exact reception ... anticipated," Savidge reported while under fire. "There's a lot of smoke and dust now and fire. ... [It's] a far cry from the jubilant crowds ... just hard to imagine two blocks away."

Savidge said the fighting ignited an ammunition cache on the campus, which burned and exploded for about 45 minutes after the Marines secured the area.

Fighting also continued in northeast Baghdad, according to Roland Huguenin-Benjamin with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He said a Red Cross convoy was hit, and no one had been able to reach the wounded because of the crossfire.

In the Baghdad suburb of Saddam City, residents were in the streets, celebrating the apparent end of the Iraqi regime. A Shiite Muslim leader told a group of 400 to 500 people, "The tyrant of the world is finished, thanks to the coalition. Thank God for Iraq the victorious."

International media showed video of looting in and around Baghdad. Dozens of people were seen hauling off furniture, fixtures and office supplies, using wheelbarrows and pickups, with no security forces to stop them. Others ripped down posters of Saddam and destroyed them -- kicking, punching and spitting on the pictures.

Residents in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil spilled out onto the streets as well in passionate but less-raucous demonstrations, waving flags, tossing confetti and chanting.

At a briefing Wednesday at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said coalition officials were somewhat concerned about the unrest but said they believe it will "settle down in due time."

"I think in this case we're seeing a lot of jubilation and people who have long been oppressed for years and years having choices," Brooks said.

Saddam's fate remains a mystery after Monday's B-1 bomber strike on a Baghdad building where U.S. officials suspected he was meeting with senior aides, but coalition officials said that there were signs that his regime was losing control of the country, even before Wednesday's demonstrations.

A senior U.S. Army officer said Wednesday that "the majority of Iraqi forces [in the Baghdad area] have now given up."

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who been the public face of the Iraqi government during the war, did not appear Wednesday for his daily briefing. The government minders, who have shadowed international reporters for the last 12 years, were not at the Palestine Hotel, which is the base for many journalists, CNN's Rula Amin reported.

The U.S. Army has airlifted more armor into a coalition-controlled air base in northern Iraq early Wednesday, preparing for a push south along the northern front.

Tanks, armored personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles were moved from a base in Germany to Harir airfield, near the city of Erbil, where the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade is deployed, reported CNN Correspondent Steve Nettleton, embedded in the area.

U.S. forces storm through Baghdad

run — Mon, 07 Apr 2003 21:59:13 GMT

(CNN) -- American tanks and armored vehicles rumbled into Baghdad Monday, storming one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's main presidential palaces and destroying symbols of his regime.

South of the Iraqi capital, U.S. troops found drums of what may be chemical weapons materials at an agricultural complex near Karbala, military officials said Monday.

Gen. Benjamin Freakly of the 101st Airborne Division said tests performed Monday indicate the presence of nerve and blister agents, but he added, the test sometimes shows false positives. More samples are being tested.

Meanwhile, some 25 miles east of Mosul -- the largest Iraqi city remaining under regime control -- coalition forces Monday were approaching the main highway connecting Mosul to Kirkuk, hoping to cut off those cities from each other.

The move comes as coalition forces consolidate positions in an effort to choke off and surround all major Iraqi cities, including those in the north.

According to defectors, there are no Republican Guard troops operating in northern Iraq, but there has been very active Iraqi artillery resistance during the coalition bombings, which have taken place almost every day for the past two weeks.

In Baghdad, Iraqis offered little resistance, but later an Iraqi missile slammed into the tactical operations center for the U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.

At least four people, including two soldiers and two journalists, were killed and 15 were wounded in the strike, military sources said, while two Marines died in a separate firefight east of Baghdad.

In addition, at least nine Iraqi civilians died and 13 others were wounded when an apartment block in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood was hit, according to CNN sources who went to the scene. A large crater was visible, and a restaurant and an apartment building were destroyed.

Iraqis told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. they believe coalition air raids caused the damage. U.S. Central Command in Qatar had no immediate comment.

"We did not originally leave [Baghdad] because we were confident that we were not going to be bombed, but the Americans who claimed they came here under the slogan, 'Rescue the Iraqis,' did indeed bomb us," a resident told the Lebanese network.

Fighting also raged in southern Iraq, where British forces increased their control over Basra, as well as northern Iraq, where coalition forces captured a key ridge between Mosul and Kirkuk.

U.S. officials characterized earlier incursions into Baghdad as raids and reconnaissance missions, but Army sources said that the 2nd Brigade units will not withdraw from the city after moving in Monday.

"The commanders on the ground will make the decisions on what parts of Baghdad they wish to retain control of," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at a Central Command briefing.

Brooks noted that coalition forces destroyed numerous Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry units in the northwest part of the capital.

U.S. tanks rolled through the city's parade field, adjacent to the Al-Rashid Hotel in the heart of the city, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ron Martz told CNN. American forces blew up a 40-foot statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Zawra Park, Martz added, and struck several other symbolic and functional regime targets.

Several fires burned near one of Saddam's palaces on the northwest bank of the Tigris River as people ran away from U.S. tanks, according to video shown on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp.

"It can't be anything but alarming to see a [coalition] brigade commander standing in the compound of a presidential palace in Baghdad," a Pentagon official said.

"This sends a powerful message to the remnants of the regime that we can go where we want when we want."

An Army officer said some U.S. soldiers tried to raise an American flag, incensing some Baghdad residents, according to CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Standing in the smoke-filled streets of Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf refused to acknowledge the U.S. raids.

"The soldiers of Saddam Hussein have given them a lesson they will never forget," al-Sahaf said.

U.S. planes land at Baghdad airport

run — Mon, 07 Apr 2003 01:00:03 GMT

NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The first U.S. military planes landed at Baghdad's international airport Sunday night as U.S. forces tightened their control over the Iraqi capital, U.S. military officials said.

Army officials told CNN's Walter Rodgers that two C-130s and a C-17 cargo plane were flying into the city under the cover of darkness, two days after U.S. troops captured the facility.

U.S. Marines and Army forces control all roads into and out of Baghdad, encircling the city, according to Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"It is a huge perimeter," Pace said on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer." "I don't want your viewers to think there's a soldier every 10 or 15 feet. But we do control all the roads."

Forces from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division made reconnaissance forays into Baghdad for the second day Sunday and faced sporadic resistance, said Rodgers, who is embedded with the division's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry. (On the Scene)

U.S. Central Command said more than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Saturday when coalition forces swept through Baghdad on initial reconnaissance missions.

At a briefing Sunday at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said the coalition force "continues to isolate Baghdad, denying any reinforcements or any escape by regime military forces."

Another Central Command spokesman said Iraqi forces were using the Mother of All Battles Mosque and Saddam Hospital -- both on the coalition's "no-strike" list in Baghdad -- as bases of military operations.

Marines have raided a camp in the town of Salman Pak used to train non-Iraqi fighters in terror tactics, said Brooks, adding that coalition forces have encountered a number of non-Iraqi troops in battle.

"Some came from Sudan ... Egypt," he said. "We've killed a number of them, and we've captured a number of them."

Meanwhile, a column of U.S. Marine Corps vehicles moved slowly north Sunday morning toward Baghdad, taking aim at small pockets of resistance.

The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines was held back for part of the night by heavy fighting, reported CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, who is embedded with the unit.

Iraq contends it is making progress in resisting U.S. forces. At a briefing, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf talked of the destruction of tanks and armored personnel carriers and the downing of two Apache helicopters.

Denying that U.S. troops are occupying Baghdad's airport, al-Sahaf said, "The enemy was destroyed and retreated." He said U.S. forces got close enough to the airport to make it look as if they were there but that reports of U.S. troops in the area were nothing more than "propaganda."

Baghdad operation sends 'clear signal'

run — Sat, 05 Apr 2003 15:46:13 GMT

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces moved by daylight into the heart of Baghdad on Saturday, demonstrating coalition troops' ability to strike the Iraqi capital "at the time and place of their choosing," according to the U.S. Central Command.

In a briefing at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Air Force Maj. Gen. Vincent Renuart said two task forces of the U.S Army's 3rd Infantry Division conducted an operation from south of the Iraqi capital north to the Tigris River and then west toward Baghdad's airport, which is under coalition control.

"It was, I think, a clear statement of the ability of the coalition forces to move into Baghdad at the time and place of their choosing," Renuart said.

While just outside the capital, CNN correspondent Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the lead element of the 3rd Infantry Division -- the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry -- described the incursion as a reconnaissance mission.

"It does appear very clearly from the maps we've seen that what the army is striving to do at this point is carve out chunks of the city," Rodgers said. "Bite off a chunk of Baghdad and then take that chunk and literally dismember the city zone by zone so that each of these zones falls under the control of the U.S. Army."

Sources in Baghdad told CNN's Nic Robertson that they'd spotted U.S. troops in several parts of the city and that gunfire and sirens were heard.

Sources also spoke of seeing Iraqi forces, including tanks, gathered mostly on the western part of Baghdad. Those sources described those Iraqi troops as including Republican Guard and Fedayeen Saddam fighters and forming a "front-line position."

U.S. Army Black Hawk shot down

run — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 06:16:00 GMT

(CNN) -- A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was shot down by small arms fire Wednesday night in south-central Iraq, military officials said, but there were conflicting reports on casualties.

The Pentagon said seven soldiers were killed and four others wounded and rescued. But a statement from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar said only six people were on the Black Hawk and that casualties could not be confirmed.

The Central Command statement said the chopper crashed around 7:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. EST).

Col. Tom Bright, the Marine Corps chief at the U.S. Central Command's joint operations center in Qatar, said an investigation has been launched into what happened.

The crash happened near Karbala, about 50 miles from Baghdad. The city has seen heavy fighting in recent days between coalition forces and Iraqi Republican Guard units.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet went down over Iraq early Thursday. A search-and-rescue operation has been launched, U.S. officials said. The single-seat fighter jet from the USS Kitty Hawk went down around 12:45 a.m. Thursday (3:45 p.m. ET Wednesday). Further details were not immediately available.

Official: U.S. launches 'major' offensive in Iraq

run — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 07:09:01 GMT

The new offensive targeted against at least two Republican Guard divisions -- the Medina and Baghdad -- south of the Iraqi capital, in what could be the beginning of the battle for Baghdad.

One Pentagon official said U.S. forces are engaging Iraqi Republican Guard troops in a major fight in Karbala.

The new offensive came after U.S.-led coalition forces in the Persian Gulf region began receiving a battle plan suggesting the focus of the ground war would soon shift to Baghdad, according to U.S. military officials.

Gen. Tommy Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command, will not have to consult with President Bush or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before moving on the Iraqi capital, officials told CNN.

Franks is not locked into a time frame and will seize the "tactical advantage" when the time is right, the officials said.

Two rescued after U.S. plane slips off carrier

run — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 07:07:52 GMT

The crew of two aboard the S-3B Viking aircraft ejected from the tanker plane after it swerved off the deck of theUSS Constellation and before it hit the water. Both were rescued by swimmers dropped from a helicopter.

Early indications are that the airplane's brakes or some other mechanics malfunctioned, according to Navy spokesmen.

The aircraft made a successful landing on the carrier with the tailhook on the plane catching one of the arresting cables strung across the landing runway. Usually, the plane would then taxi to the right and park before it's moved below deck on an elevator.

The plane instead rolled to the left and dropped off the side of the ship, catching briefly in the safety netting along the edge of the deck. The delay gave the crew enough time to eject before the aircraft hit the water.

At least one search-and-rescue helicopter is always flying near aircraft carriers during flight operations so that rescue can begin immediately after any accident.

Constellation's last deployment
The S-3 Viking is a twin-engine jet aircraft that is configured to be used as an in-flight refueling tanker, an anti-submarine warfare aircraft or an electronic support aircraft.

Normal safety procedure includes an escort ship trailing behind and alongside the aircraft carrier with an inflatable boat ready to drop into the water with rescue swimmers aboard. The frigate USS Thach performed that role today and reached the two pilots as the helicopter arrived on the scene, a Navy statement says.

This is the first fixed-wing aircraft to be lost during Operation Iraqi Freedom, although helicopters have been lost.

The aircraft was the last of the day to return to the Constellation as flight operations at 5:10 a.m. (local time), the Navy said.

This is the last deployment for the USS Constellation before it is retired from the fleet.

UK plane shot down by Patriot

run — Sun, 23 Mar 2003 23:21:10 GMT

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- A Tornado GR4 aircraft returning from an operational mission has been shot down by a Patriot missile near the Kuwait border, a British military spokesman has said.

The Tornado's crew members are listed as missing and investigations are underway.

"Something probably went wrong in some way, but we're in an incredibly busy environment ... with every pilot focused on what they're doing," spokesman Capt. Jon Fynes said.

Fynes said investigators will look for something obvious that can be fixed easily, but if it can't be fixed "today or tomorrow, it will be fixed."

Joint Chief of Staffs chairman, Gen. Richard Myers pointed to a possible breakdown of the "elaborate procedures and electronic means to identify friendly and enemy aircraft" as causing the incident.

"Central Command is looking into that as we speak," Myers said Sunday on ABC's This Week.

"People have to react in a hostile environment; mistakes can happen," Fynes said.

The loss of the aircraft comes after two deadly accidents involving helicopters belonging to U.S. and British forces.

Six British crew members and one American were killed Saturday in a midair collision between two British Navy Sea King helicopters over the Persian Gulf, according to the UK Central Command in Qatar and the Pentagon.

On Friday, a U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter crashed in Kuwait, killing all 12 people aboard.

The eight British and four American dead were the first coalition casualties of the war against Iraq.

7 killed as UK helicopters collide

run — Sat, 22 Mar 2003 09:57:12 GMT

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- Six British crewmembers and one American were killed Saturday when two British Navy Sea King search and rescue helicopters collided in mid-air over the Persian Gulf, UK Central Command in Qatar said.

The accident occurred at 4:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. ET Friday), Pentagon officials said. Three British crew members were aboard each helicopter, the officials said. The identity of the American was not clear.

According to British military sources, the helicopters were involved in fleet defense and were not carrying troops.

A full search and rescue mission began immediately after the crash, coalition officials said.

The helicopters came down in international waters at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday (0130 GMT), shortly after taking off from a British naval ship. Officials said the accident occurred within sight of the ship.

The accident is the second involving coalition forces in two days. On Friday a U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter crashed in Kuwait, killing all 12 people aboard.

The eight British and four American dead were the first coalition casualties of the war against Iraq.

Massive firestorm targets Iraqi leadership

run — Sat, 22 Mar 2003 00:17:58 GMT

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces plan to drop more than 1,500 bombs and missiles across Iraq in the first 24 hours of its "shock and awe" campaign that began Friday, Pentagon officials said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the air campaign had shaken up the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which he said is "starting to lose control of their country."

"The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing. "Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away."

Rumsfeld said the bombing was stepped up Friday after senior Iraqi officers failed to turn against Saddam following initial U.S. airstrikes Thursday, including one aimed at Saddam himself, and a U.S. and British invasion of southern Iraq.

"What we've done so far has not been sufficiently persuasive," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld said he did not know the fate of Saddam or whether leadership had changed hands, saying he only had "scraps of information."

A top Iraqi military commander surrendered to U.S. Marines Friday, along with his top deputy, American military officials told the New York Times.

The commander was in charge of Iraq's 51st Division, a regular army unit deployed in southern Iraq directly in the path of the allied invasion.

In the first strike against Iraq Wednesday night, coalition forces targeted a residential compound in Baghdad where Saddam, his sons and other top officials may have been hiding, according to U.S. officials. An intelligence service headquarters and Republican Guard facility in the city were also hit.

"There's no question but that strike on that leadership headquarters was successful," Rumsfeld said. "We have photographs of what took place. The question is, What was in there."

In an attempt to convince the world that Saddam survived the bombing, Iraqi state television broadcast pictures of what it said was the Iraqi leader meeting Friday with his son Qusay.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said, however, the U.S. has "no concrete facts" to indicate Saddam or his sons survived the airstrikes.

Punishing air attacks
The punishing air attacks rocked the Baghdad night Friday, with thunderous explosions that filled the skies with flames and huge clouds of smoke.

The massive Republican Palace complex along the winding Tigris River apparently took the brunt of the attack.

Heavy bombing also shook the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. At least 20 major blasts were heard in the Kirkuk area alone.

U.S. officials said one of the weapons being used was a new 2,000-pound bomb designed to limit collateral damage for optimal use in an urban environment.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said coalition warplanes had flown more than 1,000 sorties and "dropped scores of precision-guided munitions" on Iraqi military targets so far.

Iraqi Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf said Friday night's airstrikes had seriously damaged Baghdad's "Peace Palace" and called the U.S.-led coalition arrayed against Iraq "mercenaries."

The Peace Palace is used for visiting dignitaries. Al-Sahaf said the "Flowers Palace" -- a museum that once was a palace for the king during the days of royal rule -- also was hit.

'A huge wave of steel'
Meanwhile, coalition forces continued to make gains on the ground. Meyers said coalition troops already had traveled 100 miles inside Iraq from Kuwait.

One caravan of Bradley fighting vehicles and M1A1 Abrams and other vehicles was heading unimpeded toward Baghdad in what CNN Correspondent Walter Rodgers described as "a huge wave of steel" that stretched for 20 miles.

Rodgers, who is accompanying the 3rd Squadron of the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, lead element of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the U.S. forces could reach Baghdad in two to four days.

U.S. Navy SEALs and coalition special forces troops seized two major gas and oil terminals in the northern Persian Gulf, Myers said.

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and coalition troops secured the port city of Umm Qasr in the Faw Peninsula and the main oil manifolds along the waterways there. Myers said Iraq's southern oil fields should be secured sometime Friday.

Marines en route to the oil fields near Basra passed homes and office buildings displaying white flags and returned the friendly waves of villagers, according to a CNN reporter traveling with them.

Iraqi state television broadcast pictures of what it says is President Saddam Hussein meeting Friday with his son Qusay.
One U.S. Marine was killed during the oil field operation, becoming the first coalition combat fatality of the war, Marine officials said. The Marine was based at Camp Pendleton, California. A second Marine was killed during the fight for Umm Qasr.

Troops of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division followed other allied forces into Iraq, entering from Kuwait to little resistance Friday.

U.S. and British troops also seized two strategically important airfields in western Iraq during lightning raids, a senior U.S. military official said.

The two airfields, known as H-2 and H-3, are considered important to the continued military operation inside Iraq. U.S. intelligence suspects the H-3 field may be a weapons of mass destruction site, according to an informed official.

Other developments
• Tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo, Egypt, pelted police with rocks and vowed to burn down the U.S. Embassy and kick out the ambassador. Riot police used batons and water cannon to disperse the crowds. Protesters also hit the street in Jordan, Yemen and Lebanon, venting their rage against the United States and its allies.

• Australian-led coalition forces captured an Iraqi tugboat that apparently was preparing to lay sea mines in the Persian Gulf, said Brig. Maurie McNarn, the top Australian military official in the U.S.-led coalition. McNarn said Australian soldiers have been involved with several firefights with Iraqis.

A U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter crashed in northern Kuwait early Friday morning, killing all 12 people on board -- eight British military personnel and four American crew members, Pentagon officials said. The accident took place about nine miles south of the Iraqi border. (Full story)

• Iraqi authorities Friday expelled CNN's four journalists from Baghdad effective immediately, said CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan. The CNN team planned to leave for the Jordanian border at the first opportunity, Jordan said.

• U.S. military planners are devising strategies in case the Iraqi military triggers a flood of the Tigris River, the Pentagon said Friday. If the Iraqi military was to release water into the Tigris from upstream reservoirs, extensive flooding could occur between Baghdad and Kut, displacing thousands of Iraqis. (Full story)

• Umm Qasr was a main port for the United Nations' oil for food program, which used proceeds from oil sales to provide food for Iraqis. The U.S.-led coalition expects to be able to start using the port to bring in humanitarian aid within a few days, officials said.

• A rocket hit an oil refinery Friday in Iran close to its border with Iraq, injuring one person, but it was not known where the rocket came from, Iranian government sources told CNN.