10 April 2003
U.S. Military Officials Say Baghdad Is Still Not Secure
(Central Command Report, April 10: Iraq Operational Update) (730) By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr. Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- While U.S. Army and Marine forces have succeeded in encircling Baghdad and now control access to the city, the entire city has not been secured because there are still pockets of Republican Guard, Special Republican Guard and paramilitary forces fighting, a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM} spokesman says. "Baghdad's still an ugly place," Air Force Major General Victor "Gene" Renuart said April 10 at the daily CENTCOM briefing in Qatar. "We have localized pockets throughout the area of the greater Baghdad area that we have to deal with, and we have a number of areas throughout the country that are not yet stabilized, that are not yet engaged in terms of reducing or eliminating the Iraqi military, the paramilitary forces, the Ba'ath Party, and some of the leadership." Renuart said there is considerable work for military forces left to do before hostilities cease. "At the same time, we're conducting assessments of the utility systems in the city, the sanitation capability, [and] the hospitals to see if we can very rapidly infuse water, electricity, [and] sanitation into those areas and to those facilities so that we can return quality care to the people of Baghdad," he said. Elements of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Infantry Division have completed the outer cordon around the capital city, cutting off major routes in and out of the city, he said. This effectively prevents large forces from moving in and reinforcing troops already in the city, he said. Renuart said U.S. forces are focusing on Tikrit, which is Saddam Hussein's birthplace and ancestral home, and military operations are moving toward that key city as well as other areas of northern Iraq. In the south, the 1st British Armored Division is conducting a number of operations in the Basrah area, and is continuing to move to the north to link up with elements of the 1st Marine Division in the vicinity of Amarah, he said. "We have now secured all of the southern oil fields," Renuart said. "We're in the process of moving through those oil fields to ensure they are secure, and I'm pleased to say that about 800 of the thousand wellheads have physically been inspected, and the repair requirements have been determined for many of those. That work continues, and we think we'll have those inspections completed over the next few days." Renuart said the 101st Airborne Division has been conducting operations near the town of Hillah and has returned stability to that area. The air assault forces have found four warehouses of food that were held by the regime, and are now being distributed to the local population, he said. Renuart said that in the town of Rutbah U.S. Special Forces held a meeting with community leaders, and the town declared itself open to coalition forces. "We've met with the new mayor and his town council. They've asked for our help in returning power to the community and working the flow of water," he said. "We've assisted them by providing power generation equipment to get the wells running, and then we have a repair team going in to help with some of the power generation capability for the city." Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, also speaking at the media briefing, said Special Operations forces have succeeded in maintaining lethal pressure against Iraqi forces in northern Iraq, and consolidated some gains in the area of Mosul. "In the west, Special Operations continued against regime forces in the town of al Qa'im," Brooks said. That is an area, he said, "that is strategically located on the route that joins Syria and Iraq" and is also potentially a launching area for ballistic missiles. Brooks said the Special Operations forces holding the Hadithah Dam have been reinforced with coalition armor and infantry. The dam is located to the west, northwest of Baghdad and serves as an important crossing point over the Euphrates River, he said. Brooks also said the Spanish cargo ship Galicia arrived at Umm Qasr April 9 and began off-loading humanitarian supplies and also a medical bay with over 50 beds and a portable field hospital that can be pushed out in the area surrounding that. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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