WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers said Thursday U.S. troops do not intend to lay siege to Baghdad but plan only to isolate it from the rest of the country.
The U.S. military expects a good portion of the 5 million residents -- the oft-persecuted Shiite population in the eastern half of the city -- could quickly switch their loyalty to U.S. forces. If not an active help, they may not oppose U.S. troops.
"You could assume that they might be helpful," Myers said.
"You're going to have Baghdad isolated; you're going to have half the population that probably wants nothing to do with the ... oppressive regime. And then you'll start working at it as you can. But one of the things you can do is be patient about that. So this notion of a siege, and so forth, I think is not the right mental picture."
Once Baghdad is isolated, Saddam Hussein's regime has little impact on the remainder of the country, he said.
"You have a country that Baghdad no longer controls, that whatever is happening inside Baghdad is almost irrelevant compared to what's going on in the rest of the country. What's going on in the rest of the country? Well, you have the southern oil fields; we'll see about the north. You have the face now of a -- by this time, probably, of an Iraqi administration, interim administration, some form of people standing up now starting to work the post-conflict governance. It will take some time, but you'll have that," Myers said.
"Whatever remnants are left would not be in charge of anything except their own defense. And it would be fairly small compared to the rest of the country and what's happening," Myers said.
Key to securing Baghdad will be "patience," Myers said.
U.S. troops do not want to force their way into the city en masse out of fear of being drawn into dangerous street warfare, according to the Pentagon. Instead they expect to launch raids and air strikes on key regime posts, weakening the government but keeping as much of the civilian life of the city intact as possible.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned there may be more casualties ahead. So far at least 51 service personnel have died in connection with the war.
"Let there be no doubt, the most dangerous fighting may very be ahead of us. And by its conduct in this war, the Iraqi regime has shown that there is no depth to the brutality to which they will not sink," Rumsfeld said.
Thousands of U.S. forces are now on the edges of the capital city or are approaching it. Later Thursday Pentagon officials said U.S. forces are "on the ground" at the Saddam Hussein International Airport, a critical base for operations on the west side of Baghdad.
Power is out in Baghdad. U.S. officials insist the military did not target the electrical grid.
A special operations element raided one of Saddam's residences, Tharthar Palace, on Wednesday night about 56 miles from Baghdad.
"The raid did not yield any regime leaders in this case, but documents were taken that will be valuable for intelligence, and they will be examined further. The raiding force did accomplish its mission, with no combat losses," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, a U.S. Central Command spokesman in Qatar.
Conventional coalition forces also took Baath Party headquarters in two locations Wednesday, according to Brooks.
"In some cases, we destroyed Baath headquarters, the Iraqi intelligence service meetings in progress, terrorist groups. It's wherever we find these types of targets emerging that we will direct our efforts to attack and destroy those," Brooks said.
Coalition ground forces moved quickly to Baghdad after encountering only sporadic resistance from the Republican Guard divisions arrayed around the city. Clashes between the U.S. troops and Iraqi forces continue, according to Brooks.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Wednesday seized the area between al-Kut and An Numaniyah, according to Brooks.
"There is a road that runs along the northern side of the (Tigris) river, and by seizing that location and the space between it, the 1st MEF commander now has a number of maneuver options," he said.
The U.S. Army's 5th Corps penetrated the area between Karbala -- where much of the Baghdad and elements of the Nebuchadnezzar Division is arrayed -- and Lake Razaza and is continuing to move toward Baghdad.
"In crossing through this area, the 5th Corps forces were able to seize a bridge intact over the Euphrates River. It was in fact rigged for demolition. They were able to remove the demolition, cross the bridge, and continue the attack," Brooks said.
In total Wednesday, the 5th Corps captured more than 100 prisoners and destroyed more than 100 Iraq weapon systems, according to U.S. Central Command. Fifty-three members of the Republican Guard, riding together on a bus near al-Kut, surrendered, according to Brooks.
The 3rd Infantry Division of the 5th Corps destroyed six T-72 tanks, 13 armored personnel carriers and 15 air defense weapons of the Medina Division.
The 101st Airborne Division destroyed 13 air defense and field artillery weapon systems along with six vehicles used by paramilitary forces Wednesday near An Najaf.
The 82nd Airborne Division attacked a platoon of paramilitary forces in As Samawah on Wednesday, capturing missiles and enemy chemical protective gear, Central Command reported.
Also Wednesday, coalition forces found a small boat booby-trapped on the southern Khor Abdullah waterway. A subsequent search turned up a tunnel complex hiding small arms, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, gas masks and uniforms, Brooks said.
Myers said U.S. and British forces now control 45 percent of Iraq's terrain and 95 percent of Iraqi airspace. More than 725 Tomahawks and 12,000 precision-guided weapons have been used so far. Nine Tomahawks have failed to hit their targets, according to Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Joint Staff vice director of operations.
One U.S. Army soldier is dead and several others are missing in an apparent "friendly fire" incident Thursday. A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle may have fired on ground forces.
Also Thursday, a U.S. Patriot system apparently shot down a U.S. Navy F-18C Hornet aircraft, the third coalition aircraft targeted by the system and the second time it shot a friendly plane down, according to Pentagon officials. A Patriot battery in Kuwait shot down a British plane two weeks ago, killing both crew members. A U.S. F-16 fired on a Patriot battery after it was targeted by the anti-missile radar.
Friendly fire incidents occur in every war; almost one quarter of all U.S. deaths in the 1991 Gulf War were from friendly fire.
"We shouldn't accept that it's inevitable. It seems to be in every conflict that it is, but we shouldn't accept that," said Myers. "We'll have to investigate each one of them, see if it was a breakdown in our techniques, our procedures, or if there was a technical breakdown that we have to shore up, and we can do that."
An Army Apache helicopter crashed Wednesday in Iraq. The copter was carrying seven people but Brooks could offer no definitive number of casualties. ABC News reported at least four had been rescued. The Apache apparently crashed from mechanical trouble and was not shot down, Brooks said.
U.S. Central Command is still investigating several cases of alleged errant bombs and unintended civilian casualties, including a vegetable market in southeastern Baghdad apparently bombed by aircraft Thursday. It is also looking into reports of numerous civilian casualties in al-Hillah reported Wednesday.
U.S. Central Command Thursday ordered all Thuraya satellite phones used by the U.S military and embedded media personnel to be shut down. The military has more than 500 of the phones in the field. More than 500 embedded reporters are also forbidden from using the phones.
"Recent intelligence reporting indicates Thuraya satellite phone services may have been compromised. ... The phones now represent a security risk to units and personnel on the battlefield," U.S. Central Command said in a press release.
Thuraya's handheld mobile phone has a built-in Global Positioning System, which sends out a signal to the satellite that is possible to trace back to the handset. Satellite phones can also transmit location if the enemy forces triangulate on the signal.
