Word: kut
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...might have imagined it could slow the onslaught. As U.S. forces swept through Iraq from Kuwait, the Iraqi command deployed four divisions--the Baghdad, Medina, Nebuchadnezzar and Hammurabi--south of the capital in two defensive arcs. The outer arc, about 100 miles long, stretched roughly from Karbala to Kut. The inner one, some 30 miles long, extended from Yusufiyah to Suwayrah. Just how many troops this involved is unclear. On paper, each of the four divisions had roughly 10,000 men, but according to U.S. intelligence, all were undermanned. Pentagon officials and outside experts estimate that the Republican Guard forces...
TIME set out to answer that question by traversing the two rough arcs along which the Republican Guard were deployed south of Iraq's capital. Our reporters focused on seven battlefields: Hindiyah, Hillah, Kut, Yusufiyah, Mahmudiyah, Suwayrah and Dawrah. They surveyed the aftermath of the fighting, inspected graveyards, visited hospitals and interviewed eyewitnesses. They also spoke to Republican Guard survivors about their escape and the fates of their comrades...
That many Republican Guard troops had simply given up became clear to U.S. forces even as they marched toward Baghdad. For instance, the day after the Marines passed through the outskirts of Kut with unexpectedly light fighting, despite the supposed presence of the Medina division, they started running into long lines of young men walking on the road. "There is no doubt these are the Republican Guard we didn't come up against yesterday. They all have military haircuts," Marine Lieut. Colonel Bryan McCoy told a TIME correspondent that day. After U.S. forces began arresting men wearing combat boots, deserters...
...applaud TIME for printing the words of Marine Lieut. Colonel Bryan McCoy as his battalion easily routed Iraqi fighters outside the town of Kut [WITH THE TROOPS, April 14]. McCoy said, "Let's quit pussyfooting and call it what it is. It's murder, it's slaughter, it's clubbing baby harp seals." Some may believe the antiwar protests should have stopped once the fighting started, for fear of demoralizing American troops, but I am more concerned about the morale of those who will spend the rest of their lives dealing with the horrors of war. The suffering on both...
...widely televised toppling of Saddam's statue. Further north in Kirkuk, forced expulsion of Arab Iraqis by armed Kurds continued, and near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit heavily armed local tribesmen fought fierce gun battles with marauding groups of Kurdish bandits. And in the southern town of al-Kut, a local Shiite leader and his supporters have taken control of city hall, and U.S. forces moving into the city have been greeted by protesting crowds chanting "No, no, Chalabi...