Chicago Sun-Times March 21, 2003
Air campaign hits high gear
2 Marines killed in first U.S. deaths during combat
Minutes after rocking Baghdad with scores of missiles, the U.S.-led coalition launched a massive air campaign today, promising to pound hundreds of military targets throughout Iraq this afternoon.
U.S. and British forces already enjoyed a string of victories in Iraq today--seizing control of its only port city and strategic airfields and moving closer to securing the nation's oil fields as scores of Iraqi soldiers surrendered.
"Our efforts to disarm Iraq and dismantle the Iraqi regime is fully underway," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman, of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But they also suffered their first combat death, two U.S. Marines, one of whom who was shot in the stomach.
Operation Iraqi Freedom also claimed a Chicago area serviceman, a 30-year-old Marine pilot from the Kankakee area who was among 12 British and U.S. troops who died Thursday in an apparently accidental helicopter crash in Kuwait.
The reminders of the deadly peril attached to the mission to disarm Iraqi president Saddam Hussein came as the U.S. military moved ever closer to the stage of the campaign dubbed "shock and awe," the massive air and ground assault designed to destroy and demoralize Iraqi troops.
Anti-aircraft fire rang out in Baghdad shortly after 11 a.m. Chicago time as Iraqi forces anticipated incoming fire, and the U.S. 7th Cavalry rumbled through the Iraqi desert toward the capital city virtually unimpeded.
"Coalition forces began the ground war to disarm Iraq and liberate the Iraqi people yesterday," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said this afternoon. "And a few minutes ago, the air war in Iraq began."
'Shock and awe?'
Plumes of smoke and bright flashes lit up the night skies of Baghdad as explosions boomed in the capital city about noon Chicago time.
One series of strikes lasted nearly eight minutes, leaving half a dozen high-rise targets in flames. Some were reported to be part of Saddam Hussein's presidential compound or various ministries of his government.
Saddam's palace was in flames, Reuters reported.
The northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk were also under attack on the third night of the war, as was Tikrit, Saddam's hometown. Located 90 miles north of Baghdad, Tikrit is home to the the largest of the presidential palaces.
Despite the scattered barrages, the Pentagon's top brass did not use the term "shock and awe."
"Clearly, we're moving toward our objectives, but we must not get too comfortable," Myers said. "We're basically on our plan and moving toward Baghdad, but there are still many unknowns out there."
One of those unknowns was the fate of Saddam, although Rumsfeld voiced confidence that "The regime is starting to lose control of their country."
'Confusion growing'
Lightning raids by U.S. and British troops took control of much of the oil fields west of Basra, Iraq's second largest city, in the far southern part of the nation.
Considered a vital strategic resource and asset of the Iraq people, the fields were expected to be secured sometime today, Myers said.
Cutting off Iraq's only port, U.S. Marines had captured Umm Qasr along the Kuwait border on the Persian Gulf.
"Coalition forces did capture and do control Umm Qasr and also a growing portion of the country of Iraq," Rumsfeld said. "The confusion of the Iraqi officials is growing."
In the west, two airfields, dubbed H-2 and H-3, were seized. One is believed to house weapons of mass destruction, one official said.
Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers surrendered to allied troops, and some civilians rejoiced.
Jubilant Iraqi civilians waved and greeted the 1st Marine Division as it entered the town of Safwan, just inside Iraq's southern border.
"We're very happy . . . Saddam Hussein is a butcher," one man said. A woman fell at the feet of the Americans and embraced them.
The coalition forces also faced resistance, particularly in southern Iraq. The Iraqis used pistols, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades against the vastly superior U.S. arsenal.
"I kind of felt sorry for them," one U.S. military official said. "A lot of them looked hungry."
'Wave of Steel'
Moving closer toward the massive ground invasion, the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry Regiment, leading the 3rd Infantry Division was about a third of the way to Baghdad.
The caravan of tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles stretched 20 miles across the desert, prompting a CNN correspondent to dub it a "wave of steel.'
A U.S. Marine was the first to die in combat. His company was advancing on a burning oil pump station when he was shot in the stomach, a comrade said.
The Marine was from the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said Lt. Col. Neal Peckham, a British military spokesman in Kuwait. He died in the sweep on the Rumeila oil field in southern Iraq, where acrid smoke blackened the sky.
The second Marine, also from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died today at about 4 p.m. while fighting enemy Iraqi forces near Umm Qasr.
"All of us involved here in Washington are extremely proud of the young Americans who are willing to sacrifice for something greater than themselves," President Bush said today. "We will stay on task until we've achieved our objective, which is to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and free the Iraqi people."
'One of our finest'
The combat deaths came hours after the crash of a CH-46 helicopter about nine miles south of the Iraqi border.
One of those killed in the accident was Marine Capt. Ryan Beaupre, 30, of St. Anne, Ill., said his sister, Alyse.
Three other U.S. Marines and eight British Marine Commandos also were killed in the crash. Military officials are investigated the cause, but said it did not appear to come from hostile fire.
Beaupre was a graduate of Bishop McNamara High School and Illinois Wesleyan University. He belonged to the Roman Catholic Church in St. Anne, which is about 60 miles south of Chicago.
The family was notified by a Marine Corps delegation that came to their home this morning.
"We're a small community of 1,300. What happens to one family happens to all of us," said the Rev. Ron Murphy of the First Baptist Church of St. Anne. "The whole community knew Ryan, one of our finest."
At the Pentagon, Myers praised all the dead as heroes.
"These brave men died fighting for their nation and the safety of the world," he said.
Contributing: Sun-Times wires and Globalsecurity.org
GRAPHIC: Getty Images; John H. White; Associated Press, U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division Bradley fighting vehicles make a brief stop during their move deeper into Iraq today. U.S. and British forces are assaulting Iraq from land, sea and air in what has been dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom. Police subdue and arrest anti-war demonstrators at Federal Plaza, 320 S. Dearborn, in the third day of protests here. A U.S. Marine checks an Iraqi soldier as others lie on the ground in southern Iraq today. Some 200 Iraqis surrendered to the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit an hour after it crossed the border from northern Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers surrender to U.S. Marines after a gunfight near Az Bayer, Iraq, today.
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