The stories coming out of Karbala and Najaf of people cheering the Americans as they arrived reminded a friend of mine of a scene from Catch-22. I don't remember it well and I can't find my book. One of the characters was talking to an old Italian man. The man was saying that the Italians would always survive because they let their conquerers take them over. When the royalists were in charge, he was a devoted royalist. When the republicans took over, he was a devoted republican. When the fascists took over, you couldn't find a more loyal fascist. When the Germans came, he greeted the germans with open arms. Now that the Americans had arrived, he was a loyal ally of the Americans. You couldn't find a more loyal ally than he. It sounds a bit like the Iraqis. When Saddam was in power, they wanted death to the Americans, but when the Americans are in power, the greet them "like a carnival" in the words of a Washington Post reporter.

April 7 – Monday
3rd Infantry South and West and In Baghdad
BBC 0200: US warplanes bomb both the centre and the outskirts of Baghdad in dawn raids.
BBC 0432: A column of US tanks and armoured vehicles are attacking targets in central Baghdad, American military officials say.
BBC Rageh Omaar :: 0455GMT From my hotel balcony I can see two US tanks right in the heart of Baghdad they are near one of the presidential compounds. I've see mortar rounds as well and there's the sound of heavy machine gun fire from the area of the presidential compound. There's been a battle going between am forces and Iraqi for half an hour. The gunfire hasn't stopped at all and the two American tanks are parked right beside the banks of the Tigris river. This is right at the very heart of Baghdad and in the distance coming from the west and south east of the city there is the heavy rumble of artillery fire. There are people looking on in some amazement - some Iraqi officials on one of the main roads. You can just hear the heavy burst of machine gun fire coming from the area of the presidential compound.
BBC 0515: US troops reported to have taken one of the presidential palaces and the information ministry in central Baghdad.
BBC 0520: US army colonel interviewed outside a presidential palace in Baghdad says American forces have control of the centre of the city and the heart of the Iraqi Government structure.
BBC 0540: US troops report only "sporadic resistance" as they took one of the presidential palaces.
BBC Andrew Gilligan :: 0541GMT Over the last 30 minutes there has been a major battle within 500 yards of us for an artillery position and a presidential palace compound on the other side of the river from our hotel. We've seen two American armoured personnel carriers and black-clad figures believed to have been American troops running along the banks of the river. The Americans claim the presidential palace is now under their occupation. We can certainly confirm that they're there. We don't know if it's all under control but for once we can believe the US claims. It remains to be seen whether they can hold these positions. They are bringing armour which suggests they expect to hold them.
Major Michael Birmingham from the US army's 3rd Infantry Division told reporters: "We're attacking right down in the centre of the city right now." He said the mission was more extensive than Saturday's brief foray into south-west Baghdad. – BBC
BBC 0600: US Defence Department and Central Command sources say the operation is a "show of force" and not the much-anticipated "battle for Baghdad".
BBC Central Command, Qatar :: Peter Hunt :: 0603GMT One journalist travelling with US forces has said the troops he is with have seized control of a presidential palace in the heart of Baghdad. He said they are now going through it room by room.
BBC 0625: A correspondent for Reuters news agency in Baghdad says the Iraqi information ministry and the foreign ministry are firmly in Iraqi government hands - and that heavily armed units of the Iraqi Republican Guard have taken up positions in the area.
BBC 0630: Iraq's information minister gives a press conference in central Baghdad and claims American armoured columns have been "slaughtered".
An armored force from the Second Brigade rolled through the heart of the government district and a battalion from the First Brigade began an assault on a presidential compound just outside the city – Patrick Tyler and Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
Troops and tanks from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division were seen inside President Saddam Hussein's Sijood Palace and at the gates of his Republican Palace. 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division entered the city at 6 a.m., moving up Highway 8. They moved northeast toward the Republican Palace, the newest and main presidential compound on the Tigris River. Iraqis fled along the river, some jumping in the water. – Washington Post

1st Marine Division and SE of Baghdad
Just a few miles southeast of the city, reporters traveling with the American marines reported constant artillery and mortar fire along the Tigris River and huge fires raging on the city's edge. Marine officers reported difficulty in laying a bridge across a tributary of the Tigris that was blocking their advance. – New York Times

Karbala
The strategic city of Karbala, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad, is now under American control, according to US officials - BBC
101st Airborne Division won a lopsided battle against irregular forces in Karbala. One American soldier was killed and seven others wounded in two days of intense firefights in the city's tightly packed neighborhoods, where an estimated 400 Hussein loyalists were killed – New York Times
2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division this morning massed six companies to sweep through a final stronghold of southwestern Karbala. The troops took control of this city and once again drew cheers and thumbs-up accolades from thousands of smiling residents. – Rick Atkinson, Washington Post

Basra and Southern Iraq
BBC Outside Basra :: Hilary Andersson :: 0516GMT
There are 90 Challenger 2 British tanks in the city. Scores of Warrior armoured vehicles and troops from the 7th armoured brigade are inside the city. - BBC
This morning there are Royal Marines have gone in. The big push yesterday was from the west. And there are also British troops on the northern side. - BBC
Ahmed Chalabi, a leading opposition figure close to members of the Bush administration, said through a spokeswoman on Sunday that he had slipped into the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya – New York Times

Kuwait and Elsewhere
Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, said setting up a new Iraqi government would probably take more than six months once allied forces had full control of the country.

April 6 – Sunday
In Baghdad
BBC 1011: A convoy of Russian diplomats, including the ambassador, came under fire as they were evacuating from Baghdad. Several people are said to have been injured.
BBC 1310: BBC correspondent Gavin Hewitt reports fierce artillery exchanges in western Baghdad, sees dozens of burnt out Iraqi armoured vehicles.
BBC Gavin Hewitt :: 0748GMT We have heard this morning quite a bit of shelling coming from the direction of the airport.
BBC Paul Wood :: 1209GMT The sound of planes flying over is constant now, we've just had a burst of anti-aircraft fire. Over the past quarter of an hour we've heard the whoosh of a Katyusha rocket being fired from the centre of Baghdad and then in the distance the rumble of artillery and then another whoosh from a rocket. It sounds as if they are are throwing everything they have got from the city outwards towards the American troops who are amassing on the southern outskirts of the city. The picture painted by the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf is of Iraqi forces pounding the Americans, driving them back.

1st Marine Division and SE of Baghdad
American marines pushed grindingly around the eastern perimeter of the city on Sunday, and a brigade of 5,000 Army troops battled west and north to cut roads and increase the pressure on the capital. – New York Times
Some Marine units were targeted Sunday by persistent artillery and rocket fire from inside Baghdad. Elsewhere, Iraqi defenders blew up two bridges along the Diyala River on the eastern side of Baghdad in an effort to block U.S. forces, the first time Iraq has destroyed any of its bridges to slow the American advance. – Washington Post

3rd Infantry South and West of Baghdad
BBC 0655: A column of 2,000 US vehicles moves into the outskirts of Baghdad to join two similar formations already operating in the south-west of the city, says the BBC's Peter Grant who is with the US 54th Engineers.
BBC 1045: Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf says Iraq has killed 50 US troops and destroyed at least six US tanks close to Baghdad international airport overnight. He again denied US troops had taken control of the airport.
BBC 1715: The first US military aircraft - reportedly a C-130 cargo plane - lands at Baghdad's airport, US military officials say.
Commander of the 1st Brigade of the US 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters 1st Brigade holds the airport and the west of Baghdad, the 2nd Brigade is securing the south, the 3rd Brigade is holding the northwest and the Marines are in the northeast. – BBC
BBC Peter Grant :: 0745GMT Early this morning the tanks and vehicles of the American 54th Combat Brigade crossed the Euphrates to the south-west of the Iraqi capital.
BBC Gavin Hewitt :: 1310GMT There has been a fierce battle today on the western outskirts of Baghdad. As companies from the 3rd Infantry division pushed down the main highway towards the city there was heavy artillery fire coming from the Iraqis, it fell either side of the road as we pushed forward. Nearby we saw more than a dozen Iraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers burning, dead Iraqis lay on the ground. At least 15 civilian vehicles were caught up in the fighting and we saw some of their dead lying beside the road. Others huddled in a canal ditch waving a white flag. The fighting has continued with mortar artillery and rocket salvos from the Americans. Although the Iraqis are being overwhelmed they are putting up determined resistance.
soldiers of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division secured a semi-circle around the western side of Baghdad after coming under intense artillery fire. - BBC
U.S. military officials said the movement of American troops around Baghdad was designed to prevent Hussein's government from reinforcing troops inside the city or fleeing to areas of the country not under the control of U.S. and British forces. – Washington Post
The Army and Marines swung around the city in different directions. Elements of the 1st Marine Division began from an intersection in Baghdad's southeastern fringe, about six miles from the city center, that has become their staging area. The Marines traveled to the north and then to the northwest in a counterclockwise arc around the city. Meanwhile, units from the 3rd Infantry Division moved in a clockwise direction, progressing to the northeast from the division's beachhead at the airport 12 miles west of downtown. – Washington Post

Northern Iraq and Kurdistan
BBC Irbil, Northern Iraq :: John Simpson :: 1228GMT We were heading for the town of Diberjan which had just been captured by the Kurdish forces when we joined the special forces convoy. As we got out of our vehicles the Amercian officer in command saw an Iraqi tank a mile or so away and called in an airstrike. A few minutes later two American aircraft circled low overhead. I saw the bomb falling from the aircraft and then, extraordinarily, I saw it just before it hit the ground only 10 yards away. It was painted white with a red nosecone. The explosion killed a dozen or so people outright, one of them may have been an American, and a large piece of shrapnel hit our translator, Kamran Abdul Razak, in the legs. We tried hard to save him and he had the help of the American special forces medics who were there but he died of blood loss a few minutes later. The rest of our team suffered light shrapnel wounds and perforated ear drums. And a very senior member of the Kurdish Republic government who also may have been injured, maybe even dead. . They may have hit a senior Kurdish figure, very senior, brother of the top man. I've counted ten or twelve bodies around us so there are Americans dead. Given how close the bomb had landed to us, those of us who survived were all extraordinarily lucky.
BBC Mosul, Northern Iraq :: John Simpson :: 1412GMT In the last 24 hours the Kurdish forces have met some resistance. There has been sporadic artillery fire. Guns that we thought had been destroyed - plus things like the tank that was firing in our general direction today.

Basra and Southern Iraq
BBC 0836: The US military says it has found the bodies of the bodyguards of Ali Hassan al-Majid, the Iraqi commander in the south also known as "Chemical Ali",
BBC 0840: British tanks are reported to have entered the centre of Iraq's second city, Basra.
BBC 1146: Iraq information minister dismisses reports of death of Iraq's southern commander Ali Hassan al-Majid, dubbed "Chemical Ali".
BBC 1340: US forces have begun to airlift Iraqi opposition fighters - under the control of the Iraqi National Congress and its leader Ahmed Chalabi - into southern Iraq, American network ABC reports.
BBC Qatar :: Jonathan Marcus :: 1027GMT Sources here are making it very clear that this is the big push on Basra that we have long been expecting. They believe they may have killed one of the leading pro-regime loyalists in the city - this man known as chemical Ali, They have gone very deeply into the city and we're told they intend to stay there. How far they go and how long they remain will depend on the level of resistance.
BBC Basra :: Jonathan Charles :: 1034GMT I flew in to the outskirts of Basra early this morning on an RAF Chinook helicopter. Whilst we were there we saw huge amounts of armour, a lot of challenger tanks going by and also quite a few armoured personnel carriers.
The British attacked on several fronts. Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Royal Fusiliers and the Black Watch pushed into the city. The British forces were supported by Marine Corps Cobra helicopter gunships. Three Commando, a unit of the Royal Marines that has been operating at Fao, pushed in from the south. Britain's 16th Air Assault division, which has been protecting the Rumalia oil fields, have also extended their operation northwest toward Highway 6, a major route out of Basra. The British plan foresees the consolidation of allied control over the city in a matter of days and then a British push north on Highway 6. Such a northern attack out of Basra would confront several severely weakened Iraqi Army units. The goal would be their surrender or destruction. – New York Times

April 4 & 5 – Friday and Saturday Supplement
Thousands of American marines advanced on the Iraqi capital from the southeast on Friday, moving to within 10 miles of the center and firing artillery as they spread along a broad arc east of the city. they began to move out toward the northeast today. A fierce firefight broke out as the Marines began to swing north. In recent days, it appears that Mr. Hussein has succeeded in moving a large portion of his loyalists toward the city. Friday's advance was the final leg before the city itself, as the marines moved northwest along Highway 6 from Aziziya, 30 miles from Baghdad. The preparations began just before midnight, when the marines found what they believed was a sizable unit of the Nida Division of the Republican Guard. The unit, believed to include many tanks dug into earthen positions, was bombed through the night by Fifth Marine Regimental Combat Team. ." – Dexter Filkins, New York Times with 1st Infantry Division
Three Iraqi men captured during fighting on Thursday described how their unit, part of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard, had been ravaged by American air strikes. "When the bombs hit the tanks, many people got in their cars. Then the bombs hit the cars.” They said that many civilians had been killed in the town during the American bombardment and that 25 of their brigade's tanks had been destroyed. "Everyone fled. They fled in cars. They went to Baghdad." – Dexter Filkins, New York Times with 1st Infantry Division