Russian military intelligence update: War in Iraq, April 5
05.04.2003 [22:07]
"Spite and irritability are growing even in British troops, which were
always 'correct enough' towards the civilians on the occupied territories.
In increasing frequency British soldiers show violence and rudeness towards
civilians.... During a night "cleanup" in one of suburban houses near
An-Nasiriya three marines shot a man and afterwards raped and shot his
wife. The command got information about this incident from one of its
informers. After interrogation the marines were sent to Qatar for
additional investigations."
Quote from text, S.A.

The situation on the US-Iraqi front is characterized by gradual reduction
of American offensive activity. After the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division
tank forces had marched towards Baghdad and its vanguards reached the city
from south and south-west, engineering fortification of their positions
began, which indicates the end of the current stage of the campaign as well
as the loss of offensive potential of American forces and necessity to rest
and regroup. It is supposed that during the next two days the American
command will attempt local strikes in order to improve and extend their
positions on the south and, especially, south-west approaches to Baghdad
(crossing the Baghdad ­ Samarra roadway) and begin bringing fresh forces
from Kuwait.
As we supposed, during the last night Americans were moving 101st Airborne
Division troops to help the 1st Mechanized Division that captured the
airport of Baghdad yesterday morning. About 80 strike and transport
helicopters and 500 marines were deployed there.
But all the efforts to reinforce the brigade with heavy armor failed as
Iraq started powerful artillery strikes at the transport routes and
organized mobile firing groups on the roads. After reports about losing 3
tanks and 5 APCs on the route the American command had to pause the
movement of the reinforcements by land.
Yesterday's estimates of the forces concentrated here were overstated.
After analysis of intercepted radio communications and reports of American
commanders it was specified that at the airport there were only parts of
the 1st brigade troops, up to 2 enforced battalions with the help of a
self-propelled artillery division 3 thousand soldiers and officers strong,
60 tanks and about 20 guns.
Another battalion enforced with artillery crossed the Baghdad-Amman roadway
and came into position at the crossroads to the south of the airport, near
Abu-Harraib.
Soldiers of the 1st Mechanized Brigade spent almost all the last night in
chemical protection suits, waiting for the Iraqis to use their
"untraditional weapons". Apart from that, their positions were constantly
shot at with artillery and machine gun fire. The brigade commanders report
that the soldiers are ultimately dead tired-beat, and are constantly
requesting reinforcements.
About 10 U.S. armored units including 4 tanks were lost in this area
yesterday. Up to 9 men were killed, about 20 wounded, at least 25 reported
missing. Moreover, the status of a patrol group that didn't arrive at the
airport remains unclear. It is supposed that it either moved away towards
Khan-Azad and took defense there or got under an ambush and was eliminated.
It is now being searched for.
The losses of Iraqi forces were up to 40 men killed, about 200 captured
(including the airport technical personnel), 4 guns and 3 tanks.
Currently American reconnaissance squadrons are trying to dissect the
suburban defenses with local sallies.
At the same time, marine troops are approaching the south-east borders of
Baghdad. Their vanguard units reached the outskirts of Al-Jessir and
immediately tried to capture the bridge over a feeder of the Tigris, the
Divala river, but were met with fire and stopped.
Commander of the 1st Expeditionary Marine Squadron colonel Joe Dowdy was
deposed yesterday morning. As was revealed, the colonel was deposed ".for
utmost hesitation and loss of the initiative during the storm of
An-Nasiriya.". This way the coalition command in Qatar found an excuse for
their military faults by that town. The "guilt" of the colonel was in his
refusing to enter the town for almost 3 days and trying to suppress Iraqi
resistance with artillery and aviation, trying to avoid losses. As a
result, the command additionally had to move the 15th squadron of Colonel
Tomas Worldhouser there, who had to storm the ferriages (river fortages)
for almost 6 days, with about 20 of his soldiers killed, 130 wounded and 4
missing. The 1st Expeditionary Squadron lost no men at An-Nasiriya, but 3
marines died, as were reported, "by inadvertency" and about 20 soldiers
were wounded.
Despite the fact that marines were able to capture one of the bridges at
the south outskirt of An-Nasiriya, the ferriage across the Euphrates is
still risky. Fights in the city are going on. The American command has to
cover the ferriage with a company of marines enforced with tanks and
artillery, up to 400 soldiers and officers strong. Every column passing
across the bridge gets shot by Iraqis from the left bank and the marines
have to cover it by setting smoke screens and delivering constant fire. A
brigade group of the 101st Airborne Division is engaged in the combat but
is unable to break the Iraqi resistance. Throughout the day 3 men were
wounded, 1 soldier reported missing.
In An-Najaf, after 3 days of shelling and bombardment the 101st Airborne
Division marines were able to advance towards the center of the town and
are now fighting in the market region.
It is reported that 2 marines were killed and 4 wounded. 1 APC was
destroyed with a RPG. At the same time there arrived information that
during the last night most of the garrison (up to 3 thousand Republican
Guardians of the "Medina" Division) left the town on cars for Karbala. Only
militia remained in the town, covering the withdrawing main forces and
continuing to resist.
All the attempts of American marines to advance into Al-Khindiya failed.
After 1 APC from the vanguard was knocked out and more than 20 RPG shots at
the column, the marines withdrew to their original positions. 2 soldiers
were wounded and evacuated rearwards. American intelligence believes that
no more than a battalion of Iraqis are defending the town. Their resistance
remains, despite that the town has already been under siege for 8 days.
Americans were unable to capture the left-bank part of Al-Hillah. The 82nd
Airborne Division troops are only capable of keeping a narrow "corridor" ­
across the outskirt of Al-Hillah with the bridge over the Euphrates. There
is constant shooting in the town. Throughout the day in this region the
coalition lost 1 men killed and 4 wounded.
A similar "corridor" is kept by marines in the Al-Kut town. But there is
information that allows us to suppose that Americans were pushed away from
the town last night. Continuous requests of artillery and aviation support
and coordinates transmitted to the artillery HQ indicate that the combat
occurred in immediate proximity to the American positions. 4 times
ambulance helicopters flew into this region, and there hasn't still been a
report from the commander of the marine group that defends this area, which
may indicate that he hasn't yet have full information about his units.
The situation at Al-Diwaniyah, where heavy combat has been going on for 3
days, has become a little clearer. Currently all American forces have been
pushed away from the town. Early morning an American helicopter was
attacked. Its crew died. Another helicopter was shot down and had to land
to the east from Karbala. Information about its crew is being obtained.
The overall situation in the central region of Iraq is characterized by
gradual reduction of the coalition activity and change to active defense.
But extraordinary dispersion of the ground forces, their fragmentation (the
biggest group now contains up to 12 thousand troops) create advantageous
preconditions for Iraqi counter-attacks, but the air superiority of the
coalition severely complicate such projects. If, due to weather conditions,
the coalition forces lose their air support, it may have very dramatic
consequences.
At the south of Iraq the British advance on Basra is losing its strength as
well and may already stop during the next two days. Currently the British
have been unable to achieve any serious success on this direction, and
fights are only occur at the outskirts of the city.
The British command had to admit that it had underestimated the strength of
Iraqi resistance and was unable to reveal the structure and number of Basra
defenders fully and operatively. Currently in the city and the Fao
peninsula, according to the British data, about 5 thousand of regular Iraqi
military forces are defending (parts of 51st Mechanized Division of general
Khaled Khatim Saleh al-Hashimi) and up to 5-7 thousand volunteers and
militiamen. At the same time, British hopes for an armed Shia revolt have
been ruined. The Shia leaders in Iran called their Iraqi coreligionists to
fight against English and American "satanists" and "Zionists", leaving
British without their "best card" in the plan of capturing Basra. 3 men
were killed and 8 wounded yesterday.
At the North of Iraq desultory fights between Kurdish troops "peshmerga"
and Iraqi forces are going on. The morning messages about the town Kalak
captured have not been confirmed yet, and according to the radio
surveillance data the actions only take place at the approaches of the
town. For now, Kurds are mainly busy robbing neighboring villages and
transporting the stolen goods into their basic regions. According to
American special forces which have recently been replaced here, sometimes
after capturing a village up to half of the Kurdish squadron abandon their
positions. They load stolen property into captured cars and leave for their
homes to be back next morning for new salvage.
But apart from clear marauding of "peshmerga", the coalition command has
more and more problems with keeping the decent moral level of their
fighting soldiers. Spite and irritability are growing even in British
troops, which were always "correct enough" towards the civilians on the
occupied territories. In increasing frequency British soldiers show
violence and rudeness towards civilians. At a recent consultation at the
British HQ, a representative of the military police command pointed at the
fact that even actions of arresting people suspected in underground
activities occur with unnecessary violence and publicity, and resemble
rather intimidation than special police operations. The command issued a
special order regarding the required behavior in the occupied regions, but
even after it had been published a few analogous incidents were registered.
An event that had happened 5 days before also received publicity at the
coalition HQ. During a night "cleanup" in one of suburban houses near
An-Nasiriya three marines shot a man and afterwards raped and shot his
wife. The command got information about this incident from one of its
informers. After interrogation the marines were sent to Qatar for
additional investigations.
In increasing frequency commanders find things belonging to Iraqis in their
soldiers' rucksacks. The soldiers are discontented with their commanders
attempting to cease this practice, and call those items "war salvage".
Currently the command is preparing a special order regarding this issue.
[translated by Necroman]
Ramzaj