Rumsfeld: Operation Iraqi Freedom on target

A massive ground battle took place in the Euphrates Valley Tuesday, killing between 150 to 200 Iraqi soldiers, Pentagon officials said. Coalition forces have moved more than 200 miles into Iraq in less than five days, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tuesday, British forces fought side by side with 1,000 Iraqi militia fighters at the gates of Basra. A British major said the citizens of the area took to the streets, being less compliant with Saddam Hussein’s regime. Throughout Iraq, sandstorms have slowed troops from reaching Baghdad. The storms have grounded aircraft and blinded electronic equipment that is needed to attack Iraqi targets and prevent friendly-fire accidents.

Monday, a group of 30 Apache helicopters met gunfire near Karbala. Several choppers were hit and one went down. Pilots Ronald Young Jr., 26, and David S. Williams, 30, were taken prisoner by Iraqi troops. The two soldiers are being contained with five other U.S. servicemen who were taken prisoner by the Iraqis. President George W. Bush has expressed his concern for the treatment of prisoners of war ever since a video tape was released showing U.S. soldiers being tortured and shot. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said coalition forces now have more than 3,500 Iraqi POWs in their custody. He said thousands of Iraqi soldiers have disbanded and left their units.

U.S. officials said Marines seized a hospital in Nasiriya that appears to have been used for military operations, which is against the Geneva Convention. More than 3,000 chemical suits with masks, Iraqi ammunitions and military uniforms were found, said U.S. Central Command. A U.S. military spokesperson said that early Wednesday, coalition aircraft struck the Iraqi state-run TV station. Air Force Major Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. said Tuesday that six GPS jammers provided to Iraq by “another nation” were also taken out of commission by U.S. forces. While Russia wasn’t directly sited as being the nation that supplied the GPS jammers, the United States is concerned that the Eastern European country is letting materials slip into Iraq, which is in violation of decade-old U.N. sanctions.

The U.S. soldier suspected of killing a fellow U.S. soldier and injuring 15 others in a grenade attack will be taken to Germany to await formal charges. A military magistrate found it “probable” that he is guilty, U.S. military officials said.

In order to clear mines from the waters around Iraq, coalition forces are using camera-equipped sea lions and Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins. The animals are specially trained to spot the deadly mines, which clears the way for humanitarian aid shipments en route to the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.

Although Operation Iraqi Freedom is on target, Rumsfeld said Tuesday the most “brutal” battles might lie ahead. He said U.S. officials have overheard intelligence talks that suggest Iraqi Republican Guards might use chemical weapons as coalition forces get closer to the capital city.

Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged France to recognize the Iraqi government is finished and to join the United States in planning for a better life for the Iraqi people. He said while the two countries haven’t seen eye-to-eye in regard to the matter, it’s time to move forward. French President Jacques Chirac has threatened to veto in the United Nations any attempt to “legitimatize the military intervention” and “give the belligerents the power to administer Iraq.”

Forty-three U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the conflict began last week.

Compiled by Sarah Kite