Here is an interesting article that really gets into how the war is being fought. It is a blow-by-blow account of events at the headquarters of the 101st Airborne as they invaded Karbala today and were repelled from the city. For all the assurances of precision weapons, the systems that they depend on often fail. The consequences can be dire. This is supposed to be a war without civilian casualties. Our political leaders claims that the war is to liberate the Iraqi people. It turns out liberation can be a lot more painful that we were led to believe.

It turns out the raid into Baghdad today was done for symbolic value. It seems a lot of the war is waged using psychological tactics. In every city the Americans go through, they destroy symbols of the Baathist Party and Saddam Hussein. They will destroy murals, statues and Baath Party headquarters. It is all aimed to show that Saddam Hussein's power has been lessened. Some of these symbolic actions have military value, others are merely political. Basically, the US is showing that there is a new sheriff in town. By doing so, it gives encouragement to those who oppose Hussein and discouragement to those who support him. The foray into Baghdad was just such an event. The Iraqi Information Minister was quick to reassure the people that Saddam Hussein was still in power.

The American media made this raid sound like a glorious victory for the American army by capturing the center of Baghdad. If we look at the facts differently, however, a slightly different story appear. The US sent a battalion into the south of Baghdad to test its defenses. Upon entering, it encountered stiff resistance at every step of its journey. The Iraqis were not expecting this raid and only had small arms to hold it off. The Americans did not stop at any point on their journey, though they made it to a neighborhood in the south side of the city near the university. They eventually made it to the Airport with one dead and six wounded and returned to their camp south of Baghdad by a different route. From the Iraqi point of view, their army and militias were able to repulse an American attack. That sounds like a victory. Military victories are purely subjective things. It depends on the goal of the action. The American goal was to enter the city, test Iraqi defenses, and get out safely. From this perspective, the action was a victory. The Iraqi goal was to keep Americans out of the city. The Americans did not stop at any point and were out of the city in a matter of hours. From the Iraqi perspective, this is a victory as well.

For all the progress towards Baghdad that the American military has made, it has often bypassed entire units. People are left wondering what happened to the Republican Guard. The generals at CentCom in Qatar want everybody to believe that it has melted away or has been decimated. From what we hear from the embedded reporters traveling with the troops, there have been many dead soldiers (and some civilians) lying by the side of the road. However, not an entire division's worth. There were two major divisions south of Baghdad, the Medina to the southwest in the path of the 3rd Infantry near Karbala and the Baghdad in the path of the 1st Marine Division near Kut. It turns out that the 101st is now facing heavy fighting when it tried to enter Karbala today. Also, the 1st Marine Regiment (a unit of the 1st Marine Division) is fighting in Kut. The US Military wants us to believe that it is just militia, fedayeen and irregulars. Is this the remnants of the Republican Guard? Are they fighting what is essentially behind the US lines? Football metaphors seem appropriate in describing war. It seems that the US strategy has been to give the ball to the 3rd Infantry and 1st Marines and have them run it to the end zone. In the meantime, you have blockers to the rear keeping the Iraqi linebacker from sacking the runners. Of course, even the Seahawks would play better if the opposite team's defensive line were killed by airstrikes.

So why did they relieve the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment?

April 6 – Sunday
In Baghdad
The Al-Rashid military base in south eastern Baghdad has been targetted during another night of air strikes. – Reuters
1st Marine Division and SE of Baghdad
A U.S. Marine commander said on Saturday American troops would use overwhelming force to crush any resistance if ordered to storm Baghdad and that the battle would cost many civilian lives. – Reuters
U.S. military sources as say Marine units were to the east of Baghdad and a unit of Marines was probing about 1 mile from the northeastern city outskirts. – Luke Baker, Reuters with the 3rd Infantry
3rd Infantry and SW of Baghdad
The bulk of the 3rd Infantry Division over the Euphrates in the early hours of Sunday as U.S. forces bolstered positions around Baghdad. units of the 3rd Infantry Division were securing the southern perimeter of Baghdad, while others, backed up by the 101st Airborne Division, were holding Baghdad's main airport. Other 3rd Infantry troops, which had helped secure the perimeter of the city of Kerbala, were now bringing up the rear. Other units of the 3rd Infantry were probing slightly to the west and to the north of the airport. – Luke Baker, Reuters with the 3rd Infantry
Northern Iraq and Kurdistan
0510: The BBC's John Simpson in northern Iraq reports that Kurdish fighters have been calling in air support to tackle Iraqi resistance as they move towards the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.
Southern Iraq and Basra
The United States plans to install the first stages of a civil administration to run post-War Iraq in the southern port of Umm Qasr within days. Members of the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), led by retired General Buck Walters are scheduled to start operating in the port as early as Tuesday - Reuters
Kuwait, Qatar and Elsewhere
BBC US Central Command, Doha :: Paul Adams :: 0506GMT One official I was talking to the other day said it's possible that Britain and America might be instrumental in helping to foster rumours. They were quite taken for example the other day by the fact that on Baghdad television an official had to discount rumours that members of Saddam Hussein's own family were fleeing the country.
Iraqi opposition leaders in exiles meeting with senior US officials in London have agreed on international oil companies taking a lead role in kick-starting the beleaguered country's oil industry after the war. Long-term contracts are expected to see US companies ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhilipps compete with Anglo-Dutch Shell, Britain’s BP, TotalFinaElf of France and Russia’s Lukoil along with some Chinese state companies. – Al Jazeera English
On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a supplementary budget amendment excluding France, Germany, Russia and Syria from taking part in US-funded reconstruction bids in Iraq because of their opposition to the US-led war. – Al Jazeera English
With only one or two Iraqi cities firmly held by US-led forces in the third week of their invasion, experts are questioning the effectiveness of the American war plan, and the credibility of messages being relayed by US diplomats. “It would be more correct to say we are operating in most areas of the country but we control very little,” says Former congressional official Joseph Cirincione.

April 5 – Saturday Supplement
In Baghdad
BBC 1607: US combat aircraft begin 24-hour-a-day patrols over Baghdad to provide close air support for US ground troops, commander of the US-led air campaign says.
BBC 1723: A bomb explodes in the centre of Baghdad, next to the Palestine Hotel where many journalists covering the war are based and where briefings by the Iraqi information ministry are held.
BBC 2000: Massive explosions heard in the centre of Baghdad.
BBC 2329: Members of the Fedayeen militia seen patrolling streets of Baghdad and staffing machine-gun positions.
1st Marine Division and SE of Baghdad
The Marine Corps relieved the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, an extremely unusual action, especially for a unit engaged in combat. The U.S. military was unusually guarded about discussing the reason for the removal. His regiment was used to pin down Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard in Kut while the 5th and 7th Marines crossed the Tigris River on Thursday. At Kut, the 1st Marine Regiment's mission included feinting a move toward Iraqi positions in such a way as to draw artillery fire, according to a Marine officer. That maneuver was intended to expose the locations of the Iraqi gun batteries, which could then be hit by airstrikes. The Iraqi units didn't take the bait and never opened fire, the officer said. – Washington Post
At the outset of the war, the 1st, 5th and 7th Marines, totaling about 20,000 troops, seized the Rumaila oil field. Then they pushed 75 miles north to Nasiriyah, where they skirmished with Iraqi irregular fighters and crossed the Euphrates River around March 24. They moved into central Iraq and then paused as they grew low on some supplies and a huge sandstorm howled across the country. Earlier this week, the Marine units drove on two axes toward Kut. – Washington Post
About 2,500 Iraqi Republican Guard troops surrendered to Marines around Kut. – Washington Post
1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment searched buildings, blew up vehicles and patrolled the streets of Salman Pak.
Since early Friday morning, Marines have been involved in "difficult engagements" with Iraqi fighters including advances on foot and some hand-to-hand combat, according to Renuart. He said he could not confirm reports from journalists near the front lines that the Marines have also faced Arab fighters from outside Iraq who have joined the city's defenses, a battle that one officer said involved bayonet fighting, according to the Associated Press.
3rd Infantry and SW of Baghdad
To protect their position at the airport, soldiers from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division flushed out remaining Iraqi fighters from buildings, defensive trenches and subterranean tunnels. – Washington Post
As night fell Saturday, Iraqi militiamen and troops reemerged and took up positions in Baghdad. Members of Saddam's Fedayeen led by Saddam Hussein’s son Uday appeared downtown for the first time since the war began. – Washington Post
In the southeastern town of Suwayrah, Army units captured the virtually abandoned headquarters of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard. – Washington Post
2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne still in Karbala. 3rd Infantry skirted it on the way to Baghdad. Estimated 500 Fedayeen militia fighters and loyalists of the ruling Baath Party still in the city. – Washington Post
Basra and Southern Iraq
British troops in the town of Zubair today discovered a military warehouse containing scores of human remains. British military spokesman Col. Neal Peckham discounted media reports that the victims might have been victims of an atrocity, saying there was at this point "no evidence." He said, "They could well be the remains of soldiers from the Iran-Iraq war." – Washington Post