Baghdad Republican Guard Division DESTROYED

[Alistar7]

American ground forces are 20 miles south of Baghdad, one RG division has been eliminated, 2 others are serioulsy degraded. Night is falling and the end is near for Saddam....

 

[conjur]

And the Iraqi troops are using mosques as shields:

In Najaf, about 50 miles south of Karbala, the Central Command said U.S. forces were being fired on from the Ali Mosque, one of the most important Shiite Muslim sites. The coalition has declared the holy sites as ?no targets? zones only to be fired upon in self-defense, and troops chose not to return fire Wednesday, said Brig. Gen. Brooks.
Calling the Iraqi fighters? use of the mosque ?a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger,? Brooks said coalition troops would try to avoid harming the shrine.

From MSNBC

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: conjur
And the Iraqi troops are using mosques as shields:

In Najaf, about 50 miles south of Karbala, the Central Command said U.S. forces were being fired on from the Ali Mosque, one of the most important Shiite Muslim sites. The coalition has declared the holy sites as ?no targets? zones only to be fired upon in self-defense, and troops chose not to return fire Wednesday, said Brig. Gen. Brooks.
Calling the Iraqi fighters? use of the mosque ?a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger,? Brooks said coalition troops would try to avoid harming the shrine.

From MSNBC

Sad, but not surprising. Ever since this war started, the Iraqi officials have tried to turn this into a religous event so it ignites the whole ME against the "satans". This is probably another part of that plan. By having US Troops firing upon a mosque, it would be a symbolic rallying cry for all the fundamentalists... IIRC, it is a fairly important mosque as well..

 

[Iwentsouth]

Medina Division destroyed also.

2 down... Hammurabi, Adnan, Al-Kuds and Nechuchadnezzar left.

 

[NightTrain]

The plan has failed. How much longer til we surrender?

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: NightTrain
The plan has failed. How much longer til we surrender?

You can't surrender during a "pause" ...or can you? (I humbly defer to the French in search of the answer )

CkG

 

[Iwentsouth]

Iraq denies destruction of Republican Guard division

BAGHDAD, April 2 (Reuters) - Iraq dismissed as "baseless" a U.S. statement on Wednesday that the Baghdad division of the Republican Guard had been destroyed.

"This is a baseless statement as the Baghdad division is in command of the situation and it enjoys high morale to fight the enemy and destroy it," a military spokesman said.

He said the division had not even suffered casualties in its engagement with U.S. troops.

U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told reporters on Wednesday U.S. troops had "destroyed" the Baghdad Division near the town of Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and had inflicted damage on two other Guard divisions.

Each of Iraq's six divisions of Republican Guard defending Baghdad has about 12,000 men at full strength. Brooks said the Baghdad division was "no longer effective at conducting combat operations as a cohesive force."

U.S. officials said their forces pushed closer Baghdad on Wednesday after dramatic advances across the Tigris river and past the Shi'ite shrine city of Kerbala.

A Reuters correspondent with the U.S. Third Infantry Division said a military source had told him vanguard units were 30 km (19 miles) from the southern edges of the capital.

Forces advancing along the Tigris valley from the southeast were as near as 40 km (25 miles) away, the source said.

Iraq has consistently denied U.S. military claims of battlefield success in the two-week-old war to remove President Saddam Hussein, and on Wednesday again rejected the U.S. version of events as "illusions."

I thought denial was a river in Egypt not Iraq?

 

[Red Dawn]

I wonder if those divisions have withdrawn into Baghdad?

 

[Iwentsouth]

Both destroyed outside of Bagdad. They did not retreat they was destroyed.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Iwentsouth
Both destroyed outside of Bagdad. They did not retreat they was destroyed.

At least according to Cen Com. Of course they also said the 51st Division in Basara also had surrendered when in fact they hadn't. Anyway., I just posted the possibility not that I would know one way or another. I truly hope they have been destroyed.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
At least according to Cen Com. Of course they also said the 51st Division in Basara also had surrendered when in fact they hadn't.

But was that a form of propaganda to demoralize Iraqis who can get American news via satellite? Or even to bolster support in the States?

 

[flavio]

I've seen the word "routed" used in one article. Can't seem to find one that paints a clear picture so far.

 

[Iwentsouth]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Iwentsouth
Both destroyed outside of Bagdad. They did not retreat they was destroyed.

At least according to Cen Com. Of course they also said the 51st Division in Basara also had surrendered when in fact they hadn't. Anyway., I just posted the possibility not that I would know one way or another. I truly hope they have been destroyed.

Thats true. There still 19km or miles outside of Baghdad. So still some ways to go.

 

[Iwentsouth]

Originally posted by: flavio
I've seen the word "routed" used in one article. Can't seem to find one that paints a clear picture so far.

The DOD defines 'Destroyed' as: A condition of a target so damaged that it can neither function as intended nor be restored to a usable condition.