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U.S. says Baghdad resistance crumbling
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Organized resistance by Iraqi forces has ended in Baghdad, despite fierce gun battles, and coalition forces are moving around "at will," according to the U.S. military. Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Tuesday U.S. forces in and around Baghdad were "spending the night wherever they want to." At the same time, Pentagon officials said Saddam's regime still controls elements of the Iraqi military, specifically Special Republican Guard units and death squads, even though command and control has deteriorated. U.S. warplanes continued to strike at the heart of Saddam Hussein's rule, the day after a building in which the Iraqi leader was believed to be was obliterated by a U.S. airstrike, raising further questions about whether he was alive. "I don't know whether he survived," said President Bush at a summit meeting in Northern Ireland with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "The only thing I know is that he's losing power ... Saddam Hussein will be gone." (Full story) While Saddam's government still controls elements of the Special Republican Guard and paramilitary Fedayeen fighters, the Republican Guard was "receiving instructions but not following them," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said. Clarke said the orders to Iraqi troops were "still being given by somebody" but they were "not well coordinated." Airstrikes also targeted buildings housing the headquarters of the Baath Party and the Republican Guard, the Iraqi Information Ministry and the Special Republican Guard, Army sources told CNN. On Monday a U.S. B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on a building in a Baghdad residential neighborhood suspected to contain Iraqi leaders, including Saddam and his two sons. Sources said the blast in Mansour killed nine people, wounded 13 others and destroyed a restaurant and apartments. The crew of the American B1-B bomber that attacked the site where Saddam was believed to be said they knew their mission was "a big one" but they did not know who the specific target was. (Full story) American military fire killed three journalists in two incidents Tuesday near central Baghdad, raising questions about the tactics of U.S. troops trying to take control of the Iraqi capital. (Full story) U.S. Central Command said that in both cases U.S. forces came under "significant enemy fire" from the buildings and responded "consistent with the inherent right of self-defense." The coalition assault has left Iraq with 19 tanks out of its fleet of 800, a senior U.S. official said. The official said remnants of the Republican Guard continued to battle around Baghdad but that they have no armored units and are no longer organized. In central Baghdad, flames shot from the upper floors of a high-rise, Saddam's Ministry of Planning building, during a firefight Tuesday morning between a U.S. armored unit and Iraqi forces, Abu Dhabi TV reported. (Full story) U.S. Marines continued their slow but steady advance into southeastern Baghdad. The units, backed by close air support, met sporadic Iraqi resistance at an industrial complex that included a soft-drink bottling factory, brewery and cigarette factory, reported CNN's Martin Savidge, who is traveling with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Marines also attacked and seized the Rasheed military airfield in southeast Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at a U.S. Central Command briefing Tuesday. In other developments: • The U.N. will play a "vital role" in the rebuilding of Iraq but the country would be ruled by the Iraqi people, U.S. President Bush and British PM Tony Blair said after two days of talks with Bush in Northern Ireland. (Full story) • The British military says it has increased control of Basra, Iraq's second biggest city, to 80 percent and is working on establishing a local administration. Looting in the region, which has become rampant, should deteriorate once local authorities were in place, UK officials said. (Full story) • An Iraqi surface-to-air missile apparently shot down a coalition A-10 Warthog warplane that went down Tuesday near Baghdad's international airport, U.S. Central Command said. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued. • Russian President Vladimir Putin will host a meeting this weekend of the main leaders who opposed the war in Iraq -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac. • The U.S. ambassador to Russia has denied claims by Russia's ambassador to Iraq that U.S. forces deliberately fired on a convoy of diplomats and journalists in Iraq and says the convoy deviated from an agreed-upon route. (Full story) • U.S. forces say they found what may be chemical weapons materials in an agricultural complex south of Baghdad. Tests were being carried out. (Complex searched) • According to the latest figures from U.S. and British authorities, 127 coalition service members have died in what the coalition calls "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Eight U.S. service personnel are listed as missing in action and seven held as prisoners of war. (Coalition casualties) • The Iraqi government has released no information on military losses, though U.S. military officials have reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths. Official Iraqi sources quoted by Abu Dhabi TV say 1,252 civilians have died and 5,103 have been wounded. U.S. Central Command says more than 7,000 Iraqis have been taken prisoner of war. EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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