Coalition advances continue, despite combat frustrations

Secretary of State Colin Powell called coalition progress in Operation Iraqi Freedom "amazing" on Monday. As ground combat operations entered their fifth day, coalition troops had advanced hundreds of miles into Iraq on their way to Baghdad. However, certain units have expressed frustration with some Iraqi fighting tactics.

Iraqi television aired videotape on Monday of a man who appeared to be Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Because Saddam has been known to use look-alikes in his public appearances, officials are sometimes skeptical when viewing a tape that contains pictures of him.

In Monday's broadcast, the Iraqi leader praised his troops for their resistance to U.S. forces, but it was unclear whether the tape was new. Some U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam may have been injured in the initial coalition bombing raid last week.

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Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S.-led coalition, addressed the reported need for humanitarian aid in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Franks said that within days, people in Basra would "have more access to food and water than they have had in decades" under Saddam's rule. Basra is Iraq's second-largest city.

Outside the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr, U.S. Marines were faced with an unusual challenge in combat. Some Iraqi men had approached the Marines from town, fired weapons at them, and then run back into residential areas. The men were not wearing Iraqi military uniforms.

At one point, men came out of the town and waved a white flag, which would indicate their surrender, but shortly afterwards they ran away from U.S. forces again. 1st Lt. Jason Pandak said that U.S. forces were "trying to figure out who's who and make sure...that we don't shoot civilians..."

After an hour, the Marines remained in their same position outside the town, sheltering from gunshots behind a berm in the desert. The members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit did not know how many civilians were in the area from which they were being attacked, so they had to use caution in deciding how much military force to use against their attackers.