Word: suwayrah
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Dates: during 2003-2003
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...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 arrayed south of Baghdad that clashed with invading U.S. troops totaled...
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...
...next move. Says Karim, the colonel: "This is very bitter. I am 39. I was brought up with Saddam's regime. I may not have liked it, but I had plans--to buy a house--and suddenly everything changed. The future is dark." Azed, the captain who ran from Suwayrah, sits in his uncle's house in Baghdad, smoking cigarettes and drinking tea. "What happened shocked everyone," he says. "We had heard about the resistance from the regular forces in Basra, and so we thought that surely the Republican Guard would be even tougher. But we never fought...
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