Republican Guard

Saddam Hussein's fiercely loyal and battle-hardened Republican Guard forces are the Iraqi leader's last and only hope to save himself and his government from an imminent and overwhelming military defeat, Pentagon officials say. Yesterday, allied troops were reported battling with several Republican Guard units in what could be the most crucial clashes of the Persian Gulf war. U.S. military spokesmen in Saudi Arabia said yesterday morning...

WHEN RICHARD Nixon broke the law and abused his power, Congress began an impeachment inquiry to investigate the wrongdoings of the president. When it was found that Bill Clinton lied during testimony and attempted to hide his affair with Monica Lewinsky from authorities, Congress went through with impeachment hearings and a vote to censure the president. Now, with President Bush clearly in defiance of the law by ordering domestic wiretapping without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

Coalition commander Gen. Tommy Franks will not begin his ground attack against the Republican Guard divisions on the outskirts of Baghdad until U.S. air power has whittled Saddam Hussein's frontline units to less than half-strength. The trouble is that it may be hard to know when or whether that goal has been reached. Hussein has managed to preserve many of his best forces by moving, dispersing and sheltering them - and, some U.S. officials say, by using decoys to deplete American stocks of precision munitions.

In another step toward crushing a rebellion in southern Iraq, President Saddam Hussein yesterday appointed a brutal new security chief who used poison gas to end another uprising three years ago. Hussein's appointment of Ali Hassan al-Majid as interior minister was a clear sign that he plans to show no mercy to the Shiite Muslim rebels. The Interior Ministry is responsible for domestic Iraqi security. Majid is a cousin of Hussein's and comes from his home town of Tikrit. He was in charge of quelling a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq in 1988 when the military dumped poison gas on the town of Halabja, killing 5,000 ethnic Kurds.

Amid a widening crackdown on rebellious factions, the Iraqi government has ordered all foreign journalists in Baghdad to leave the country, the Cable News Network said yesterday. And in southern Iraq, at least nine more foreign journalists, including Todd Buchanan of The Inquirer, were reported missing while trying to gather information about the anti-government uprisings. By unofficial count, the number of journalists missing in southern Iraq stood at 37 yesterday. Some were being held by Republican Guard units and other pro-Saddam Hussein military forces, according to accounts by Iraqi opposition groups and correspondents in the area.

More than 250 American tanks are locked in a "fierce battle" against 200 Republican Guard tanks west of the Iraqi military city of Basra as allied forces attempt to immobilize the remainder of Saddam Hussein's top-line force, a Pentagon source said today. "They're blocked, they can't get out," said the senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Two major U.S. Army units, the tank-heavy VII Corps and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), were closing in on three Republican Guard infantry divisions and about one and a half armored divisions some 50 miles west of Basra, the official said.

Lawrence Anthony, 61, who abandoned a career in insurance and real estate to play Noah to the world's endangered species, most spectacularly in rushing to the smoldering Baghdad Zoo after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, died March 2 in Johannesburg. The Earth Organization, a conservation group that Mr. Anthony founded in 2003, announced the death. News reports said the cause was a heart attack. His most widely publicized work was after the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003.

U.S. troops closed to within 20 miles of Baghdad yesterday, punching through the remnants of Republican Guard divisions and rolling nearly within sight of Saddam Hussein's seat of power. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime," Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at U.S. Central Command field headquarters in Qatar. "We know we have the regime on the run. " In a setback, Pentagon officials said last night that Iraqis had shot down an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a Navy airplane.

The war front. U.S.-led forces dropped 1,000-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad yesterday and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. In anticipation of a push on Baghdad, F/A-18s attacked a Republican Guard fuel depot and missile facility south of the capital, officials said. Hornets dropped 500-pound satellite-guided bombs on the fuel facility, while other planes hit the missile site with four 1,000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs. Bombing aftermath.

The relative ease with which U.S. forces are moving into Baghdad, after some early stumbles, is almost eerie. Thank goodness none of the worst-case scenarios has happened yet. No chemical or biological weapons have been launched. Saddam Hussein has not attacked Israel. Most oil wells have not been set ablaze. Still, the muted response so far from the elite Republican Guard is as much a cause for squirming as U.S. progress is cause for optimism. Try considering these possibilities without squirming: Iraqi leadership has concentrated its forces deep in Baghdad to save the bloodiest battle for last.

Lawrence Anthony, 61, who abandoned a career in insurance and real estate to play Noah to the world's endangered species, most spectacularly in rushing to the smoldering Baghdad Zoo after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, died March 2 in Johannesburg. The Earth Organization, a conservation group that Mr. Anthony founded in 2003, announced the death. News reports said the cause was a heart attack. His most widely publicized work was after the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003.

WHEN RICHARD Nixon broke the law and abused his power, Congress began an impeachment inquiry to investigate the wrongdoings of the president. When it was found that Bill Clinton lied during testimony and attempted to hide his affair with Monica Lewinsky from authorities, Congress went through with impeachment hearings and a vote to censure the president. Now, with President Bush clearly in defiance of the law by ordering domestic wiretapping without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

U.S. soldiers opened fire on angry Iraqi demonstrators yesterday, killing at least two and bringing the toll to 15 dead and 89 wounded in this week's anti-American protests in this city west of Baghdad. The shootings came as Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld made a triumphant tour of Baghdad, becoming the first top-level U.S. official to visit the capital since it fell three weeks ago. "You rescued a nation, you liberated a people, you deposed a cruel dictator," he told U.S. troops who sat atop helicopters, rocket launchers, artillery and tanks inside a hangar at Baghdad's international airport.

The images on television yesterday jostled with each other. Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the end of a murderous regime they were brainwashed into believing was immortal. Some Iraqis had a reckless reaction to liberation from Saddam Hussein: They hauled everything from cars to computers to sofas out of buildings and lots that only days before had been part of the dictator's government. And there still were scenes of battles flaring in parts of Baghdad and pockets around Iraq, even as Marines swooped into the capital with remarkable swiftness and prowess.

The relative ease with which U.S. forces are moving into Baghdad, after some early stumbles, is almost eerie. Thank goodness none of the worst-case scenarios has happened yet. No chemical or biological weapons have been launched. Saddam Hussein has not attacked Israel. Most oil wells have not been set ablaze. Still, the muted response so far from the elite Republican Guard is as much a cause for squirming as U.S. progress is cause for optimism. Try considering these possibilities without squirming: Iraqi leadership has concentrated its forces deep in Baghdad to save the bloodiest battle for last.

U.S. troops closed to within 20 miles of Baghdad yesterday, punching through the remnants of Republican Guard divisions and rolling nearly within sight of Saddam Hussein's seat of power. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime," Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at U.S. Central Command field headquarters in Qatar. "We know we have the regime on the run. " In a setback, Pentagon officials said last night that Iraqis had shot down an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a Navy airplane.

U.S. TROOPS killed at least seven women and children at a southern Iraqi checkpoint in an incident certain to enrage an already inflamed Arab world. U.S. Central Command said that the van's driver sped toward guards and ignored orders to halt. But a Washington Post reporter nearby said the guards, jumpy over Saturday's suicide bombing at another checkpoint, didn't fire warning shots soon enough. In other major developments yesterday, U.S. troops scored gains against the elite Republican Guard on the road to Baghdad.

Coalition commander Gen. Tommy Franks will not begin his ground attack against the Republican Guard divisions on the outskirts of Baghdad until U.S. air power has whittled Saddam Hussein's frontline units to less than half-strength. The trouble is that it may be hard to know when or whether that goal has been reached. Hussein has managed to preserve many of his best forces by moving, dispersing and sheltering them - and, some U.S. officials say, by using decoys to deplete American stocks of precision munitions.

President Bush's aides did not forcefully present him with dissenting views from CIA and State and Defense Department officials who warned that U.S.-led forces could face stiff resistance in Iraq, according to three senior administration officials. Bush embraced the predictions of some top administration hawks, beginning with Vice President Cheney, who predicted in the weeks before the war with Iraq that Saddam Hussein's regime would be brittle and that Iraqis would joyously greet coalition troops as liberators, the officials said.

The war front. U.S.-led forces dropped 1,000-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad yesterday and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. In anticipation of a push on Baghdad, F/A-18s attacked a Republican Guard fuel depot and missile facility south of the capital, officials said. Hornets dropped 500-pound satellite-guided bombs on the fuel facility, while other planes hit the missile site with four 1,000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs. Bombing aftermath.