There is much talk of a possible pause in the advance but this doesn't look the case from where we are.

There continues to be huge movements of logistics and armour towards the south of Baghdad and overhead we can hear American aircraft going in to attack the Republican Guard positions which are not too far from where we are now.

The impression we're getting here is that there is a steady build-up towards obviously what will be the decisive encounter of this war.

BBC Reporters' Log