Maple Grove - Following my

Maple Grove - Following my analogy from earlier this week, depicting the US advance in Minnesota terms (picture Fargo as Kuwait and St. Paul as Baghdad), US troops are in Maple Grove and Chanhassen:

The 3rd Infantry Division ( Mechanised) pushed beyond the Iraqi's "red line" defensive positions on the approaches to Baghdad - the point at which it was feared Saddam would unleash chemical weapons.

Asked if they would reach Baghdad today, a senior US source said: "Keep watching the television." Ahead of them Apache helicopters blasted missiles at anything in their path, clearing the way for the advance. In the first of a series of dramat ic move s , troops completely encircled the city of Karbala, 68 miles south-west of the capital this morning. They then swept past along both sides of the Euphrates. US units later crossed the Euphrates at a bridge north of Karbala.

In the south-east, US marines fighting the Republican Guard near the city of Kut took and secured a vital bridge over the Tigris. Thousands of US troops crossed the bridge today. Brig Gen Brooks said their advance was "a dagger pointed to the heart" of Baghdad. At Kut the US forces dropped two huge "daisy cutter" bombs, sending giant mushroomshaped clouds billowing into the sky. Troops were this afternoon punching forward on three fronts. The first was north-east from Karbala. Another advanced north-west from Kut where they seized Highway 6 to Baghdad. The third front was moving directly north from the town of Hillah on the eastern side of the Euphrates.

I'm going to try to find a map I can post. This is getting interesting.

Posted by Mitch at April 2, 2003 11:07 AM