The Command Post - Iraq - BATTLE OF NAJAF

March 25, 2003

BATTLE OF NAJAF

Reuters reports US troops killed hundreds of Iraqi soldiers near the city of Najaf south of Baghdad without losing a man.

In what appeared to be the biggest ground engagement since the war began last Thursday, a U.S. military official said up to 300 Iraqi forces were believed killed when they attacked the U.S. Seventh Calvary near the town of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

"Apparently ground forces tried to hit some of our guys with rocket propelled grenades," the official said.

"They did damage a couple of pieces of our gear but we've had no reports of casualties on our side. But apparently there are some reports that we may have killed quite a few of them," he said.

In a still developing story,

British chief of staff Major General Peter Wall said there were "early indications" that a revolt might be underway in Basra, Iraq's second biggest city.

"We will be very keen to capitalize on it. We have a duty to reinforce that but we've got to make sure we do that in a sensible way and don't do anything hotheaded that we might come to regret," he told reporters at Central Command, battle headquarters for U.S.-led forces, in Qatar.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf denied reports of an uprising, which first came from British television reporters near the city.

Posted By James (OTB) at March 25, 2003 07:02 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Um, as a Vietnam vet, I surely hope the coalition forces don't revive the horrid "body count" metric for "success."

By the way -- "U.S. Seventh Calvary"? It's *cavalry*, not "calvary." This is not a specifically Christian operation. Moreover, I don't think there's a unit in Iraq called the Seventh Cavalry. This gets into arcana of Army unit designation, but the "3/7 Cavalry" is, I'm pretty sure, an armor squadron of the 3rd ID (Mech).

Posted by: George Peery at March 25, 2003 07:26 PM

the only body count i really would consider a success is 3..i'll let you guess whom

Posted by: mike lawson at March 25, 2003 07:51 PM

It will be dawn in Basra in about an hour. Hopefully the Brits will start moving in and will get more news.

Posted by: ronnie schreiber at March 25, 2003 08:13 PM

Mike-Agreed.

George-I certainly agree that body counts are a useless indicator of success. Still, not getting one's own killed while killing a significant number of the other side is always a good thing.

Unless the Brits spell it different, I presume the cavalry/calvary thing is either a typo or the correspondent making a fairly common error.

I haven't followed the battle maps closely enough to know what units are involved. I know a lot of Armor types like to pretend they're cav. Also, several news accounts from all manner of sources have referred to "Garry Owen" and the 7th Cav, so presumably someone is carrying that guidon right now. There is a 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regt. assigned to the 3rd ID at Fort Stewart.

Posted by: James Joyner at March 25, 2003 08:56 PM

"Moreover, I don't think there's a unit in Iraq called the Seventh Cavalry. This gets into arcana of Army unit designation, but the "3/7 Cavalry" is, I'm pretty sure, an armor squadron of the 3rd ID (Mech)."

Info and history:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/3-7cav.htm

3-7 Cav home page
http://www.stewart.army.mil/Display.asp?Page=6D468FDF-4A90-4B87-9FE5-EA681A1C9369

Posted by: Dave at March 25, 2003 09:05 PM

Sir
I watched with admiration your Regiment going forward into action on day one of the war. Your compitence was apparent and your young soldiers
would live up to the principles of the the "Land of the Free" I am visiting your great country this year and look forward to that
Tom McCluskey( Ret Sergeant Major ) The Black Watch )

Garry Owen

Posted by: Tom McCluskey at July 5, 2003 05:43 PM