Coalition Forces Enter Baghdad

[RonOnGuitar]

The most dangerous phase begins as Saddam's death grip on the Iraqi people is seeing it's end -

=Ron=



Coalition Forces Enter Baghdad



The final and most difficult stage of Operation Iraqi Freedom appeared to begin Saturday morning, as American troops marched into Iraq's capital.



The Army's 3rd Infantry Division was inside the city limits and exchanging fire with Iraqi forces, Fox News has learned. Reuters reported three blasts in central Baghdad and around the city's outskirts.



Throughout the night, coalition forces defended the newly seized international airport outside the capital, while thousands of Iraqis fled the city amid fears of brutal urban warfare.



While Army tanks, infantry and elements of the 101st Airborne Division guarded the airfield, columns of Army and Marine armored vehicles rolled toward Baghdad from the south. Advancing allied troops occasionally fought Iraqi tanks as well as army, Republican Guard and Fedayeen forces.



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After flying overhead on a bombing run, Lt. Cmdr Mark Johnson said he could see pockets of fighting in the area of the airport and several other parts of the city. "There was lots of smoke and fire all along the roads leading into Baghdad, around the airport in particular," he said.



In Washington, a senior administration official said the airport was under U.S. control but not considered secured, in part because it was within range of artillery inside the capital city.



Nonetheless, the White House continued to suggest that the war's outcome was a foregone conclusion. "We are almost in control of their country, and we'll be in complete control soon," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington, as President Bush met with Iraqi exiles to discuss a postwar administration.



www.foxnews.com/story/0,2...42,00.html

[Galmin]

Stalingrad II, here we go.

[Social Spit]

Than Saddamgrad I