Chicago Tribune April 20, 2003
Fast, furious, relentless; Lightning-quick campaign ousts Hussein in 4 weeks
By Charles M. Madigan, Tribune senior correspondent.
Tribune correspondents contributed to this report, along with CNN.com, GlobalSecurity.org, The Associated Press, and the Tribune's library and information resources.
At 6:30 p.m. on March 19, President Bush signed what amounted to a death sentence for the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, setting in motion a brutal and lightning-quick military campaign that would see U.S. Marines lounging in his palaces in the heart of Baghdad by April 7.
Dead or alive, Hussein was driven from power, one of the primary objectives of the war.
His palaces, his shrines, his government buildings, his symbols, perhaps even his family, were destroyed.
The U.S.-led campaign rivaled Germany's World War II blitzkrieg for speed and focus. Allied forces raced toward Baghdad across the deserts of Iraq, a battlefield that had been meticulously struck by the most sophisticated precision bombing in history.
Hussein's military machine, severely diminished after a decade of embargoes that prevented repair of what equipment it had saved or salvaged from the 1991 Persian Gulf war, would be captured or lie in ruin. Many of those believed to be his most loyal soldiers dropped their weapons, shed their boots, slipped into civilian clothing and ran away.
Those who fought--some described as worthy adversaries by even the toughest U.S. troops--were soundly defeated at every turn, burned to ashes in their tanks, shot dead in the street, bombed into submission on the flat desert and routed from many of their most secure bunkers and hiding places.
This is the story of how one of history's fastest wars played out.
After the president's Wednesday evening order, which launched what the White House later called "a decapitation raid," there was no doubt about American intent. Bush had given Hussein 48 hours to gather up his troublesome family and get out of town.
Now it was the president's intention to kill him.
Commanders ordered the launch of about 40 cruise missiles from the guided-missile cruisers USS Bunker Hill and USS Cowpens, guided-missile destroyers USS Donald Cook and USS Milius, and Los Angeles-class attack submarines USS Montpelier and USS Cheyenne in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
By the time the missiles were launched, two stealth F-117 fighters were on their way from a base in Qatar to Baghdad, although their pilots did not yet know their targets. The mission was so sensitive that field commanders had to adjust the targeting data in the cruise missiles while the planes were in flight, based on minute-by-minute reports from Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va.
The F-117s, accompanied by two U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers, carried a total of four 2,000-pound bombs.
The planes and the missiles ultimately headed toward three general targets, with the key one being a home in suburban Baghdad. It was said during the 1991 Persian Gulf war that Hussein sometimes abandoned his palaces and the trappings of power and stayed in the homes of friends, difficult places for enemies to locate.
Spies were helping
CIA Director George Tenet told Bush the agency had intelligence that Hussein and other major Iraqi leaders would be at the suburban home and were likely to stay there for a few hours.
The U.S. attack hit at 5:35 a.m. Baghdad time.
The bombs were designed to penetrate and explode at different levels in the home. The cruise missiles exploded on contact.
This part of the war for Iraq began with air raid sirens over Baghdad, an array of anti-aircraft fire and thunderous explosions at the suburban home and two other sites. Bush went on television to say the war had begun. The most the U.S. would say in the hours after the first attack was that it believed some of the Iraqi high command had been taken out in the raid.
Hussein or a video of Hussein, atypically wearing glasses and looking unusually puffy, was on television within three hours, an attempted message to the Iraqi people that the leadership was intact. The Red Cross later reported the attack killed 12 to 15 people.
There would not be a minute of peace in Iraq from that point on.
Within 24 hours of the decapitation raid, it became apparent that the real war had been going on for quite some time, with U.S. and British Special Forces working hard, but quietly, in the northern part of the country to make friends with the Kurds, Hussein's sworn enemies, and cause whatever trouble they could in preparation for the attack.
U.S. Special Forces soldiers also searched for and targeted mobile missile launchers and gave war planners specific coordinates of dozens of other targets all over Iraq. They also moved on Iraqi oil fields to prepare to seize them once the war began. Even before the decapitation raid, Special Forces teams fought gun battles with Iraqi troops near Basra.
The rest of the region was packed with American and British forces, from five Navy carrier groups to an estimated 300,000 ground troops. Hundreds of warplanes were ready to strike, with some coming from as far away as the central United States. Ground forces, bristling with the latest equipment, awaited marching orders.
U.S. defense officials told the Times of London that Special Forces assassination teams from the Army's Delta Force had already penetrated Baghdad with orders to kill Hussein. They also were hacking the Iraqi leader's computer systems and wrecking communication grids to anticipate or prevent orders to use chemical or biological weapons.
Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, British Special Air Services commandos, and Australian SAS teams worked on diverse missions, including one to tap Hussein's Chinese-made fiber-optic telephone and communications network, which would give them a potential doorway into high-level Iraqi communications.
While those efforts, all designed to prepare the battlefield for an attack by the allies, were under way, U.S. commanding Gen. Tommy Franks was crafting a ground campaign that would send four powerful streams of American soldiers, British commandos, and U.S. and British Marines racing north from Kuwait into Iraq.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force along with British Royal Marines and British army units were to head toward the port city, Umm Qasr, and Iraq's largest southern city, Basra. The British were expected to occupy those areas as the Marines pushed north.
Charging up Iraq
The 101st Airborne Division with its 260 helicopters was prepared to stream northward to Kirkuk ahead of the main invasion force so it could take and hold oil fields. The 3rd Infantry Division was preparing to cross sand banks separating Kuwait from Iraq and race to the north, straight toward Baghdad.
Allied forces found they were facing a demoralized, underfed and undependable conscript army, Republican Guard units at Baghdad that were so mistrusted that Hussein would not allow them to garrison in the city for fear of a coup attempt, trusted Special Republican Guards closer to the Hussein family and a collection of fighters called the Fedayeen Saddam. There was also a home-front civilian guard that was poorly trained and poorly equipped.
Much of the Iraqi armored equipment was of Soviet vintage, tanks built for the 1950s and '60s and Eastern European knockoffs of similar equipment.
In the north, invasion plans were hampered by Turkey's refusal to provide a staging area for the allied troops that were to move south toward Baghdad as the larger force was moving north. That put more pressure on the Kurds and Special Forces teams working with them.
There was a lag between the raid on Hussein and the launching of allied ground forces.
In northern Kuwait, Marines rolled out artillery to soften up Iraqi positions in advance of an attack. Warplanes attacked the northern city of Mosul, and more Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired into Baghdad. But the "shock and awe" effort the Pentagon had promised, the thousands of bombs and missiles aimed at the command structure in Baghdad, were put on hold while intelligence agencies measured the effects of the first attack.
They were waiting to see whether Hussein was dead and how seriously his command and control functions had been affected by the initial assault. Two days into the war, dozens of F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Harry S. Truman pummeled command and control targets all over Iraq.
The first two Marines were killed in action Friday. On the same day, a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait, killing eight British and four U.S. troops. On Sunday morning, a U.S. soldier who was apparently angered by a reprimand attacked his fellow Americans, opening fire and rolling grenades into a command tent at a base in northern Kuwait. Two soldiers were killed and 14 wounded.
As the campaign to prepare the battlefield for attack continued into the first weekend, warplanes flew about 800 air strikes, hitting Mosul and Kirkuk for the third day in a row. There were also more cruise missile attacks and bombing raids on Baghdad. Four days into the war, at least 14 British and seven U.S. military personnel had been killed, either in combat or by friendly fire.
A break on northern front
On the fifth day of the war, allied troops were on the move, racing across the desert in long, heavily armed convoys headed toward Baghdad and other targets in southern Iraq. Over the weekend, Turkey had given the U.S. permission to use its airspace, clearing the way for war planners to start flying troops and equipment into old airfields that had been restored by Kurds and U.S. Special Forces in northern Iraq.
But it had been a hard weekend.
Iraqis broadcast pictures of captured U.S. soldiers and showed the bodies of what it said were other American servicemen. The Marines took heavy casualties in fighting over the weekend for Nasiriyah after they were ambushed by Iraqi forces. Two Apache helicopter pilots were captured, the Pentagon confirmed, in fighting closer to Baghdad. The allies' death toll climbed to about 40.
By day's end Monday, March 24, the first Marine units were about 60 miles outside of Baghdad, but there were troubles in the rear of the huge assault. Commanders found their units stalled waiting for fuel. The Iraqi resistance in some areas, particularly around Basra and Nasiriyah, was stronger than expected, especially near Euphrates River bridges. The Marine battle for Nasiriyah moved into its third day.
The weather became fearsome with a vast sandstorm engulfing allied forces. It lasted three days and slowed the advance to a crawl.
And even in Umm Qasr, which allied forces thought they had secured early in the war, fierce fighting broke out.
American troops also were facing ambushes that followed mock surrenders, in which Iraqi soldiers would display white flags or otherwise appear to surrender then attack with guns or grenades. Allied forces ran into heavy resistance in the Euphrates Valley, where about 100 to 200 Iraqis were killed in battles near Najaf. A car bomber killed four U.S. troops at a checkpoint in the desert.
The level of resistance a week into the war opened the door to critics of the war plan, both inside and outside the Pentagon, who said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Franks had not committed enough forces to the invasion. Expectations that the Iraqi military would simply walk away or surrender yielded to another reality, that Hussein loyalists would put up a strong fight where they could.
The war was unfolding rapidly, with vast numbers of allied troops heading north and battles breaking out in population centers all over southern Iraq. At the same time, there were some signs that the Pentagon prediction about surrendering troops was being realized. Iraqi soldiers did indeed surrender by the thousands.
But not all of them.
A week after the attack on Hussein, U.S. commanders were finally able to open up a northern front, flying tons of equipment and hundreds of troops over Turkey into the northern airfields prepared by the Kurds and Special Forces units.
Paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, brought in from Italy, seized a northern military airfield, clearing the way for more troops and humanitarian aid, an increasingly crucial element in the campaign as Iraqis lost water and electricity. Allied forces also were supplying water and food in areas they had captured in the south.
Some Iraqis welcomed the invading forces, and that welcome warmed as bigger and bigger parts of Hussein's territory fell under allied command. Also in the north, Special Forces teams and Kurd fighters attacked an Islamic Ansar al-Islam training camp, routing its forces. The leadership escaped into Iran.
As the Army and Marine units were moving quickly north, the air attack on Baghdad was stepping up.
If not the vast "shock and awe" effort threatened before the war, the air assault was apparently determined and, ultimately, decisive. A week and a day after the war began, allied warplanes unleashed the heaviest attack yet on Baghdad, rocking the city with wave after wave of precision bombs, and, for the first time, 4,500-pound "bunker-buster" bombs were dropped on Baghdad sites.
Allied commanders had been proclaiming for days that Hussein had lost control of his forces; there seemed to be no central authority calling plays for what remained of the Iraqi army.
The air attacks had been particularly heavy on the Republican Guard units believed to be surrounding the outer limits of Baghdad, one of several defensive circles of troops. By March 28, the Pentagon said, the Medina Division of the Republican Guard, which had been placed just south of Baghdad, was at about 65 percent of capacity after heavy air strikes.
Other war numbers were rising.
The allies reported 51 deaths by March 28. It was impossible to tell how many Iraqi soldiers had been killed, but Iraq's minister of health announced that at least 4,000 civilians had been killed. Later, Iraqi TV said 357 civilians had been killed. Seven allied soldiers were held as prisoners of war and 21 were said to be missing in action. At this point in the war, the Pentagon announced, allied forces had used about 10,000 precision-guided munitions and 700 cruise missiles.
Moment of tragedy
U.S. soldiers fired on a van carrying mostly women and children when it failed to stop near a checkpoint close to Najaf, killing 11 people. There were concerns that the unit had not given the driver of the van enough warning shots. Checkpoints had become increasingly tense after several suicide-bombing attempts.
On April 1, the allies finally opened their ground assault on Baghdad after days of brutal aerial attacks on Republican Guard units defending the city. At the same time, the military announced that Special Forces and SEAL units had rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, who had been missing since March 23, when her support convoy took a wrong turn near Nasiriyah and was attacked by Iraqi army troops.
A day later, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force attacked the Republican Guard's Baghdad Division and crossed the Tigris River. An Air Force general said the Republican Guard units sent to defend Baghdad were no longer "credible forces."
Allied forces attacked Saddam International Airport on April 3, seized it and renamed it Baghdad International Airport; they were within a few miles of the city center. The 101st Airborne Division seized Najaf. As ground forces closed in on Baghdad, the air campaign was stepped up, with wave after wave of attacks on targets in central Baghdad. About 2,500 Republican Guard soldiers surrendered to Marines outside the city of Al Kut. Human Rights Watch said Iraqi deserters reported their pay was low and there was little food.
On April 5, after securing the Baghdad airport, U.S. forces headed into downtown Baghdad, meeting sporadic resistance. The U.S. Army's 5th Corps moved in from the south while the 1st Marines entered from the southeast and the 7th Marines approached from an eastern suburb. Despite the images of American troops moving around almost at will in some areas, Iraq's information minister claimed that the Republican Guard had slaughtered allied forces at the airport. In all, the Pentagon said, there were 102 reported allied deaths. U.S. forces were holding about 6,500 Iraqi soldiers.
On April 7, U.S. Central Command reported, a B-1 bomber dropped four bunker-buster bombs on a building where Hussein was said to be meeting with other Iraqi officials. By April 8, U.S. and allied forces were able to move about Baghdad at will, although there were still fierce firefights as allied troops met pockets of resistance in other Iraqi cities.
A day later, hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets, ripping up posters of Hussein and looting government buildings. Marines helped them topple a large statue of Hussein. Senior U.S. Army officials said most of the Iraqi troops in the Baghdad area had surrendered.
Hussein's 'stronghold' falls
The allied forces mopped up, meeting sporadic resistance, but nothing that reflected a formal military response. Within a week, the Marine Expeditionary Force had taken over the last holdout, Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
As the war wound down, there were no confirmed discoveries of chemical or biological weapons, one of the key allegations that led to the conflict, although specialists were testing samples of suspicious substances and the search would undoubtedly continue as allied forces settled in.
Although not the final tally because the conflict will continue on a more limited basis, allied casualties included the deaths of 128 U.S. troops and 31 British soldiers and marines. About 495 U.S. service members were wounded. Two are still listed as missing in action. There is no estimate of Iraqi losses, with the Pentagon resisting a guess and the Iraqi government saying nothing.
There were no reliable reports on the whereabouts of Hussein or whether he survived the many attempts to kill him.
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U.S. / BRITISH MOVE INTO SOUTH
March 19
Acting on fresh intelligence, the U.S. strikes a Baghdad complex with bombs and missiles in an attempt to kill Saddam Hussein and his two sons.
March 20
Coalition ground forces push into southern Iraq. Air strikes pound Baghdad, Mosul and Basra. Iraq fires missiles into Kuwait.
March 21
Allies greatly accelerate the air campaign launching 320 Tomahawk missiles and more than 1,000 combat sorties. Key Iraqi port city of Uum Qasr entered.
March 22
Coalition troops advance more than 150 miles into Iraqi territory. Heavy U.S. air strikes in Iraq center on Mosul, Kirkuk and Baghdad.
THE PUSH NORTH
March 23
Troops push toward Baghdad. Iraqi forces attack a supply convoy near Nasiriyah, taking U.S. prisoners. Later, Marines arrive and are ambushed, leading to a 12-hour battle.
March 24
With U.S. soldiers about 60 miles from Baghdad, coalition planes and helicopters pound Iraqi positions to clear a path toward the capital.
March 25
Coalition forces engage in a major land battle east of Najaf. Sandstorms force a slowdown and fewer air strikes. Fighting continues in Nasiriyah.
March 26
Paratroopers parachute into northern Iraq. Iraqi troops reportedly move south from Baghdad.
March 27
Coalition forces unleash one of the heaviest bombardments on Baghdad overnight, focusing on Republican Guard units.
INTO BAGHDAD
March 28
Coalition troops spread across the north with Kurdish fighters. Coalition forces move past Karbala toward Baghdad.
March 29
Intense bombing around Baghdad continues. Ground troops prepare to enter the city.
March 30
Coalition troops inch toward Baghdad as missile attacks hit the city's military and communications infrastructure.
March 31
Most air strikes target Iraqi forces around Baghdad.Ground troops fight Iraqi forces within 50 miles of the capital.
April 1
Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, captured on March 23, is rescued. U.S. forces battle Iraqi Republican Guard troops around Karbala as air strikes continues.
April 2
Two Republican Guard divisions are dismantled by U.S. forces, who advance within 25 miles of the capital.
April 3
U.S. forces begin attacking Iraqi forces near Baghdad's international airport. Commandos storm a palace near Tikrit.
April 4
Thousands of civilians flee Baghdad as allies try to secure the airport.
April 5
U.S. forces push into downtown Baghdad to sporadic resistance. Army troops move in from the western airport while Marines approach from the east.
April 6
U.S. troops fight for control over road's leading to Baghdad; firefights are reported around the city.
April 7
U.S. troops drive into central Baghdad, taking over two palaces. The U.S. targets Hussein with a bombing in the city's Mansour district.
April 8
U.S. forces battle through central Baghdad streets, widening their control, and block major roads out of the city.
FINAL DAYS
April 9
Marine and Army units secure the center of town and fight pockets of resistance. Looters ransack parts of the city. U.S. airlifts armored vehicles to reinforce troops in the north.
April 10
Civil disorder spreads while U.S. forces clash with pockets of Hussein's loyalists. Led by Kurdish fighters, allied forces claim control of Kirkuk.
April 11
The U.S. claims control of Mosul as chaos and looting continue in Iraq's largest cities.
April 12
U.S. forces try to restore order in Baghdad. Fighting breaks out between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul.
April 13
Marines enter Tikrit and fight sporadic resistance. Seven POWs are rescued on the way.
April 14
The Pentagon declares that the major battles are over. Marines finish taking control of Tikrit. "Winding down" operations will continue across Iraq.
Sources: Global Security, Tribune and news reports
Chicago Tribune
AMERICA AT WAR.
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS 6 GRAPHIC MAPPHOTO (color): An M1A1 Abrams tank tears north through the western Iraqi desert on April 1. Destination: Baghdad. Six days later, American forces were sitting in some of Saddam Hussein's palaces in the capital. USA Today photo by Jack Gruber.; PHOTO: Marines engage Iraqi forces in Nasiriyah on March 24. It was there that Iraqis feigned surrender then opened fire on the Marines. Nasiriyah put up a tough fight. Getty Images photo by Joe Raedle.; PHOTO: On Day 3 of the war, fires from aerial and missile attacks near Baghdad's presidential compound light up the night sky. Los Angeles Times photo by Carolyn Cole.; PHOTO: On March 22, Marines began collecting Iraqi prisoners in southern regions. By the end of the campaign, thousands had given up or just stripped off their uniforms and walked away. AP photo by Laura Rauch.; PHOTO: A welcome sight and one that came later than expected: Iraqis happily greet U.S. soldiers, this occasion in Baghdad on April 10. Even so, many said they still feared Saddam Hussein. Dallas Morning News photo by David Leeson.; PHOTO: On April 9, a few days after U.S. troops entered Baghdad, emboldened Iraqis desecrated and destroyed idols and images of Hussein. Such scenes occurred in other cities too. Reuters photo by Goran Tomasevic.; MAP: IRAQ. Troop movements. Chicago Tribune.
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