The Thunder Run
'Are you kidding, sir?': Fewer than 1,000 soldiers were ordered to
capture a city of 5 million Iraqis. Theirs is a story that may
become military legend.
By David Zucchino
Nine hundred and seventy-five men invading a city of 5 million
sounded audacious, or worse, to the U.S. troops assigned the
mission outside Baghdad last April 6. Ten years earlier, in
Mogadishu, outnumbered American soldiers had been trapped and
killed by Somali street fighters. Now some U.S. commanders,
convinced the odds were far better in Iraq, scrapped the original
plan for taking Baghdad with a steady siege and instead ordered a
single bold thrust into the city. The battle that followed became
the climax of the war and rewrote American military doctrine on
urban warfare.
Back home, Americans learned of the victory in sketchy reports that
focused on the outcomea column of armored vehicles had raced into
the city and seized Saddam Hussein's palaces and ministries. What
the public didn't know was how close the U.S. forces came to
experiencing another Mogadishu. Military units were surrounded,
waging desperate fights at three critical interchanges. If any of
those fell, the Americans would have been cut off from critical
supplies and ammunition.
Embedded journalists reported the battle's broad outlines in April,
but a more detailed account has since emerged in interviews with
more than 70 of the brigade's officers and men who described the
fiercest battle of the warand one they nearly lost.
Times staff writer David Zucchino, who was embedded with Task Force
4-64 of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized),
returned to the United States recently to report this story.
Too long to post, but worth reading
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1047134/posts