Blinding sandstorm whipped up the occupation forces, bringing their Baghdad advance to a halt

BAGHDAD, March 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Blinding sandstorms and Iraqi stiff resistance were Tuesday, March 25, holding up U.S.-led occupation forces in their push to Baghdad.

The invaders, however, mounted ferocious air strikes in an apparent bid to soften up elite Republican Guard units believed to be guarding the southern approaches to the capital.

Howling winds, swirling sand, which dramatically reduced visibility, and stiff Iraqi resistance bring to a halt the march of hundreds of tanks and amphibious assault vehicles from the 3rd Infantry Division, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

A U.S. Apache, the U.S. military's most fearsome attack helicopter, and a Black Hawk helicopter attached to the Division went missing when visibility was cut to just 100 meters (yards), said a senior U.S. occupation officer.

“The sand is in your food, in your toes and in your toothbrush. The last decent meal was a long time ago. And nighttime means the chore of digging a trench to sleep in -- and prayers the scorpions keep away,” AFP quoted one occupation soldier as saying.

Further south, another dense sandstorm disrupted critical helicopter operations by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division as it advanced on Baghdad, correspondents there said.

However, field reports said the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division was closing in on Baghdad in a multi-pronged offensive and the 101st Airborne Division was moving up from the southwest.

U.S. officers said about 30 to 40 Apaches had already made initial runs against the Republican Guard as the prelude to what could be an epic tank battle.

Tough Resistance

Moving yard by yard, and mile by mile, private fears remain unspoken. The soldiers do not say how they feel, they just say they want to "get the job done."

The unexpectedly tough resistance met in the southern desert towns, which U.S. war planners had thought would be a walkover, has raised fears of what occupation forces could encounter in Baghdad.

"The toughest fight is ahead of us," General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC television. "We know it will be a very tough battle."

"We also anticipate that (in) this next phase, as we get closer to Baghdad, that the resistance will get tougher," he admitted, adding the Republican Guard were "best trained, best equipped and reportedly the most loyal to the regime."

Iraqi officials have hinted they could try to draw U.S. and British forces into dangerous street battles risking high civilian and military casualties -- under the glare of the world's cameras with hundreds of "embedded" journalists.

The resistance in Umm Qasr surprised coalition commanders, as small numbers of Iraqi soldiers using guerrilla tactics embarrassed the might and technology of the world's superpower and its military ally.

In An-Nasiriyah, a column of about 4,000 U.S. occupation marines ran the gauntlet of heavy Iraqi fire to cross the Euphrates River in the city located about a third of the way north from Kuwait to Baghdad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced he would go to Washington on Wednesday, March 26, for talks with President George Bush and said coalition forces were advancing towards Baghdad in a two-pronged assault.

The cost of the war was escalating, as Bush said he would ask for 74.7-billion-dollar in emergency spending to cover costs tied to Iraq and the war on terrorism.

"We cannot know the duration of this war, yet we know its outcome. We will prevail. The Iraqi regime will be disarmed. The Iraqi regime will be ended. The Iraqi people will be free," he claimed Tuesday.

In Basra, the situation remained precarious with occupation forces saying they had no plans to enter the city, but British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood said that was no longer an option as the 7th Armored Brigade, or Desert Rats, who are spearheading the drive to Basra, continued to face stiff opposition at its outskirts and beyond.

"We will probably need to go into Basra and meet any resistance," Lockwood told CNN.

But concern mounted for the 1.2 million residents in Basra, where power and water supplies have been cut for several days.

On the sixth day of the U.S.-led war, the occupation forces reported gains in the south, seizing the key, but small, deep-water port of Umm Qasr on the border with Kuwait and crossing the Euphrates River at the town of An-Nasiriyah to press northwards.

"Umm Qasr is under total control," a senior British officer claimed. "The clean-up operation is over."