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Senior officer: Most Iraqis have given up
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As additional U.S. troops prepared to move into the Iraqi capital, a senior U.S. Army officer Wednesday told CNN "the majority of Iraqi forces [in the Baghdad area] have now given up." The assessment came as U.S. forces tightened their grip on Baghdad. The 2nd Brigade, U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, occupied the heart of the capital and elements of the 101st Airborne Division were approaching from the south. CNN Correspondent Walter Rodgers, reporting from the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Division, said another brigade, which he could not name, was preparing to move into the city. The Army officer told Rodgers that fleeing Iraqi troops have littered the landscape with abandoned military equipment -- including Russian-made T-72 tanks in nearly pristine condition -- as well as uniforms and gas masks. Ron Martz, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who is with Task Force 164 of the 3rd Division, said he also had noticed discarded Iraqi uniforms along a highway northwest of Baghdad. Speaking from a highway overpass about one kilometer (0.6 mile) from the Tigris River, Martz said that stretch of road had been heavily defended Tuesday by Fedayeen and Iraqi troops. Though the Iraqis may have shed their uniforms, they took their personal weapons with them and are now mingling with the civilian population, soldiers told Martz. The Iraqis fire weapons at U.S. troops, then try to disappear into the neighborhoods, Martz reported. The Army officer told Rodgers intelligence reports indicated as many as 28,000 Fedayeen paramilitary fighters may remain in Baghdad. Reports also indicated at least 10 busloads of Iraqis or other Arabs who want to enter the country to fight the U.S.-led coalition were stopped at Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan. During the soldiers' trip into the city Tuesday, U.S. tanks and armored personnel carriers encountered a "constant barrage" of rocket-propelled grenades, Martz reported. A rocket-propelled grenade struck the APC in which Martz was riding and two others just missed, he said. A number of wrecked civilian vehicles were along the highway. Martz said the troops told him several of those vehicles had driven toward U.S. tanks Tuesday at a very high speed, not stopping when warning shots were fired and going through traffic cones and concertina wire. The soldiers said they fired at the vehicles, which blew up. U.S. soldiers were clearing several government buildings Wednesday morning in the northwest part of the city to check for any Iraqi holdouts.
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