|
In only 21 days -- half as long as the 1991 Gulf War -- US-led forces raced across a country they were widely expected to get bogged down in and then seized the capital that Iraq had vowed would be their graveyard.
It wasn't supposed to be so easy, or so fast.
But the ground assault was accompanied by devastating air strikes that blasted Saddam's command and control facilities, methodically chipping away at his ability to communicate with his army and the Iraqi people.
"In the early days of the war, the plan was criticised by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios," US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday.
"But with every day and every advance by our coalition forces, the wisdom of that plan becomes apparent," he said.
Saddam was expected to wage a war of attrition, pulling back his forces into the cities to suck invading troops into deadly street battles after learning in 1991 that it was all but impossible to defeat US firepower on open ground.
Instead of penetrating every city first, however, US troops charged north straight for Baghdad, defying conventional military wisdom which said that an army could not possibly keep such long lines of supply stocked and secure.
"Chop off the head," as one officer told AFP, "and hope the body dies."
Attacks on those supply lines left soldiers dead and others taken prisoner and, amid some reports that troops up front might not have enough food, gave ammunition to critics who scoffed at the unorthodox plan early on.
But as the US forces kept pounding north, the supply lines tightened, a feared chemical weapons attack never materialised and sporadic ambushes failed to slow the advance.
Then in the approach to Baghdad, Saddam's elite Republican Guard proved to have little fight left in them.
They were being destroyed from the sky.
Saddam had not drawn Guard divisions into the city but posted them outside, leaving them open to the bombardment that was at the same time demolishing the communications network needed to control their movements.
As US forces moved into first the western and then the eastern outskirts of the city, before finally surrounding it, what Guard forces remained were cut off from Baghdad, unable to get inside -- or get orders on what to do next.
Then, according to an unnamed commander cited by the New York Times, US forces were emboldened when an initial raid into the streets of Baghdad on Saturday showed there was little resistance inside Saddam's stronghold.
According to the report, what had been a plan to take a cautious and deliberate approach to taking on Baghdad was quickly shifted into overdrive as commanders realised the regime's ability to fight was drastically weakened.
On Monday, even while the United States was claiming that the much-talked about "Battle for Baghdad" had not yet started, US tanks and troops stormed into the city and showed their muscle before a shocked Iraqi population.
The vast and ornate palaces which had come to symbolise his 24-year grip on power were seized. US tanks were parked on the bridges of the city.
State radio and TV, which had kept braying about the coming defeat of the invaders, were finally blasted off the airwaves.
On the very same day, intelligence reports said Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay were meeting in a Baghdad neighbourhood -- at that very moment.
A B-1 bomber that was already in flight was redirected over the capital and, within 45 minutes of the intelligence report coming in, obliterated the site with four staggering 2,000-pound bombs.
Within 48 hours, Baghdad had fallen -- and Saddam's third war in three decades appeared all but over after three weeks.
The elusive leader remains unaccounted for, and the United States warns the war is not yet finished.
But after the world watched thousands of Baghdadis dancing and cheering, and dragging the decapitated head from Saddam's statue through the streets, it remains to be seen how much fight awaits the US-led coalition.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that Washington is "cautiously optimistic."
SPACE.WIRE |