"We think by the end of today, it (Baghdad) will be totally surrounded," -- Major Rod Legowski, a US Marine liaison officer with the Third Brigade of the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, speaking as US Army and Marine forces tried to encircle the city.

"This is for us to prepare our movements and our work to confront the enemy and crush him," -- Iraqi Information Minister Mohamad Said al-Sahhaf announcing a 12-hour nighttime ban on travel to and from Baghdad due to Iraqi military movements to confront advancing US-led forces.

"They can surrender and become part of the future free Iraq, or they can fight and die," -- General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, urging Iraqi military leaders to give up and spare themselves and the country continued war, in an interview on ABC television.

"We could start a small city revolution with what we've got," -- US Marine Staff Sergeant Arthur Santoianni, on the discovery of large amounts of Iraqi weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

"The war of national liberation which Iraqis have waged for 30 years is now nearing its end. We call on the Iraqi people to join with us in removing the final remnants of Saddams Baathist regime," -- Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC) as it sent its first 700 troops, dubbed the 1st Battalion Free Iraqi Forces, into southern Iraq.

"We have no doubt that victory will be ours. The Americans have a superior air force but on the ground they're nothing but a paper tiger," -- Faisal Abdullah, a retired civil servant, reflecting the defiant mood of many Baghdad residents despite the first incursions by US troops into the city.

"They kept bringing them in by the busload... It's a whole conglomerate of Islamic freedom fighters," -- a US officer with the 1st Marine Division near Baghdad, recounting how they fought a 10-hour battle with hundreds of Arab volunteers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria who tried to drive explosive-ladden cars into tanks.

"They are in the city now and they are trying to clear out the fedayeen death squads... they are going door-to-door... it is high-intensity urban conflict," 101st Airborne Division spokesman Sergeant Mark Swart on fighting in the central city of Karbala.

"They're doing some things they shouldn't be doing, and the sooner they stop, the better it will be for them," -- Deputy Defense Decretary Paul Wolfowitz warning Syria to stop alleged shipments of military supplies to Iraq.

"The Syrians should know that what they do now, they will be held accountable for."

"It will probably take more time than that," -- Wolfowitz when asked by Fox News if he expected the US-led coalition could transfer power to a new Iraqi administration within six months of winning the war.

"I think above all of the defenseless civilian population which is being severely tested in several cities. May God end this conflict rapidly to be replaced by a new era of forgiveness, love and peace," -- Pope John Paul II, calling for a quick end to the US-led war against Iraq.

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