[This story was updated on 03.24.03 at 9:27 p.m. ET.]
Two helicopter pilots were captured and U.S. troops continued to come under heavy fire in Iraq on Monday, day six of a conflict President Bush now says will cost $75 billion.
More than 20 U.S. troops are now believed to have been killed or captured in Operation Iraqi Freedom, many by unorthodox tactics, including fake surrenders. The latest — a 26-year-old man from Lithia Springs, Georgia, and a 30-year-old man from Orlando, Florida — were imprisoned when their Apache helicopter was taken down about 50 miles south of Baghdad, the Pentagon confirmed late in the day.
As with POWS captured on Sunday, the pilots were shown on Iraqi state television, a violation of the Geneva Convention, according to U.S. officials. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf insisted, however, that his country was not violating such accords and that the POWs would be treated according to international law.
Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers have taken about 3,000 Iraqi prisoners, according to U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks. In his media address on Monday (March 24), Franks said the coalition of American and British forces was making rapid progress, despite "sporadic" opposition from Iraqi soldiers.
Nevertheless, reporters traveling with troops are saying Iraqi resistance has never been so fierce, as troops close in about 50 miles south of Baghdad. Several tank battles, most near the southern city of Basra, were reportedly waged on Monday, along with consistent bombing of Baghdad.
Major attacks were also launched against Iraq's Republican Guard. Dozens of Apache helicopters engaged in heavy fighting with the Medina division, approximately 60 miles south of Baghdad, according to CNN.
Coalition forces, who were hit by harsh sandstorms early in the day, have also launched bomb or missile attacks on Iraqi positions in northern Iraq. The town of Chamchamal, located in the heart of Iraq's northern oil fields, felt the impact of the strikes several miles away, according to the Associated Press.
Between 20 and 30 Special Operations forces, numbering more than 200 troops, were in the region at press time, and the volume of soldiers seems to be growing, according to CNN. Iraqi soldiers and their military barracks in frontline positions north of Mosul came under the fire of U.S. warplanes. Besides providing another route to Baghdad, the goal of occupation in northern Iraq is to protect the Kurds, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday.
Britain suffered its first combat casualty when a solider was killed Monday in southern Iraq, according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense. Sixteen British soldiers have died since fighting began Wednesday, and at least two soldiers were reported missing after an attack on their convoy in southern Iraq Sunday.
Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, returned to the airwaves of Iraqi TV. Reading a 20-minute prepared speech, the Iraqi leader looked relaxed and unharmed. Though it referenced various cities where battles with coalition forces have taken place, the speech made no specific time references and could not be authenticated. Geoff Hoon, Britain's defense minister, said the tape was not current.
At the White House, Bush met with senior lawmakers and said he planned to ask Congress on Tuesday for $75 billion to cover Operation Iraqi Freedom and related expenses. Around $63 billion would be for direct war costs, while guarding against terrorist threats and other needs would use the rest.
Attention has also turned to humanitarian aid. The U.S. and Australian navies have made efforts to clear a channel near the southern port town of Umm Qasr for aid packages. Several organizations have reported that shipments of water, food, medicine, hygiene kits and other supplies were in place near the Iraqi borders but that they could not be brought into the country due to the fighting, according to CNN.
Other key developments:
