Invasion troops push into the Iraqi desert

SOUTHERN IRAQ, March 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Sweeping over the desert from Kuwait in a blaze of artillery, rocket and tank fire, U.S. invasion troops secured a beachhead in southern Iraq early Friday, March 21, officers said.

Elements of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and Britain's Royal Marines crossed the border Thursday, hours into the long-threatened invasion.

Officers with the 1st Brigade of the 20,000-strong 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) said they expected tens of thousands of U.S. Army as well as Marines and British forces to have entered Iraq by Friday from a broad swath of Kuwait.

The push was accompanied by heavy bombing of Baghdad as a nearly 300,000-strong force made good on President George W. Bush's threat to move against Iraq,  for allegedly harboring suspected weapons of mass destruction.

Captain Andrew Valles, spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade, said according to reports he had received, "there was little to no resistance" as the U.S.-British troops moved toward the southern city of Basra.

Officers with the division reported sporadic encounters with the Iraqis. They said an M1-A1 tank and three Bradley Fighting Vehicles opened fire on an Iraqi observation post, killing three men.

"As for any soldiers, we didn't see anybody," said Staff Sergeant James Currence, a tank commander. But he added: "This was the easiest part, just coming into Iraq. It's going to get a lot tougher as we go."

Sergeant First Class Melvin Green said his tank and another M1-A1 took out two T-72 tanks, the most modern in Iraq's armed forces. "I saw the turret pop off," he said of his duel with the Iraqis.

Reports claimed U.S. and British forces had taken the Gulf port of Umm Qasr and British Royal Marines commandos had landed on the Fao peninsula south of Basra. However, Iraq denied Umm Qasr had fallen.

Basra would be the first real encounter. Defended by a Republican Guard division, the area is also vital to Iraq's economy because it controls the country's oil terminals in the Gulf and only access to the sea.

The United States launched the war early Thursday with a flurry of air strikes aimed at Baghdad, including sorties by F-117 stealth fighters and sea-launched cruise missile targeting Saddam personally.

The Iraqi troops retaliated by firing several missiles that landed harmlessly in Kuwait but sent soldiers and civilians scrambling for their masks and helped accelerate the launch of the ground war by 24 hours, U.S. officers said.

The 3ID is the only heavy armor force that has been fully deployed to the region and analysts expect it to spearhead any attack against the elite Republican Guard around Baghdad and Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.

The Marines and British forces are expected to secure southern areas.

Colonel Will Grimsley, the commander of the 1st Brigade, met with his officers Thursday afternoon to brief them on the attacks and urge them to stay calm but move quickly.

"Anything I said about a pause, forget about it," Grimsley told them. "If anything we'll move faster than slower."

The push came after a fierce artillery barrage Thursday, including the launch of several MLRS (Multi Launch Rocket System) rockets.

16 U.S.-British Killed

The CH46E Sea Knight transport helicopter crashed in Kuwait

In the meantime, U.S. and British forces suffered their first casualties in the campaign to invade Iraq as 16 soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The CH46E Sea Knight transport helicopter crashed in Kuwait at around 0040 GMT Friday. "There were 16 people on board, a mix of American and British troops. Initial reports indicate there were no survivors," the Pentagon said in a statement.

Saddam Defiant

On Friday, Saddam returned to the front, warning the world his troops and people would fight it out, even as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed widespread defections.

"The Iraqi people and their armed forces are ready to resist any attack," Saddam swore in a statement, despite "U.S.-British enemy propaganda to weaken their morale."

A Tomahawk 'Land Attack Missile'

"A curse on anyone who says the Iraqi army and people would joyfully welcome your aggressiveness and the forces under your orders and rejoice," he told U.S. and British leaders.

The Iraq strongman has repeatedly stated that he got rid of his weapons of mass destruction long ago.

He seems left only with a few out-dated missiles - although they caused a major shock when 10 crashed into Kuwait on Thursday - and whatever support he can squeeze from his beleaguered 24 million people.

The United States and Britain have sought to make the war personal and up close, starting even before the expiry of a U.S. war ultimatum with a deliberate attempt by Tomahawk missile to "decapitate" Saddam.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his first public comment on the conflict went straight for the jugular. "Remove Saddam from power," was the military mission statement, Blair said.

"All I can say is that the pressure is continuing on the Iraqi regime and it will not be there in the period ahead. And we still hope that it is possible ... without the full force and the fury of a war," Rumsfeld said.

However, he also warned that a much anticipated "shock and awe" air campaign would go ahead if necessary, saying that the Pentagon wanted to maintain "as much ambiguity as possible until we begin the big push."

"We clearly haven't made the big air push yet," he added.

Three Explosions In Mosul

In the meantime, three explosions were heard Friday morning in or around Mosul, the major city in northern Iraq, according to an AFP journalist in Kalak, a nearby town under Kurdish control.

Plumes of smoke from three planes were seen around the time of the blasts at 7:45 am (0445 GMT). The exact location of the explosions was unclear.

The Qatar-based satellite network Al-Jazeera reported that warning sirens went off in Mosul at the same time.

Kalak, which has been controlled by Kurdish rebels since the 1991 Gulf War, is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Mosul.