MILITARY ACTION
U.S. and British forces continued Sunday to drive to Baghdad, but it was the most painful day of the war so far for the coalition.
Al Jazeera, the Arabic television network, showed Iraqi footage of dead U.S. soldiers as well as video of American POWs. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraq not to exploit captured soldiers.
Near al Najaf, in central Iraq, advancing U.S. forces from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division found what they suspect is a chemical weapons plant and captured its commanding general and about 30 other officers, said a senior U.S. official. The exact nature of the plant won't be clear until chemical weapons experts examine it, but evidence that Iraq still has chemical weapons despite repeated claims to the contrary would strengthen the Bush administration's case for going to war.
In Umm Qasr, an Iraqi port city on the Persian Gulf, a four-hour battle ended with an air strike against Iraqi forces. Coalition troops had taken Umm Qasr earlier, but opposition forces continued to fight.
OTHER CASUALTIES
Two British pilots died when their attack jet was shot down accidentally by a U.S. Patriot missile fired from Kuwait.
Also in Kuwait, U.S. Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, died of wounds sustained in a grenade attack by a fellow soldier. Fifteen others were injured.
A member of the support unit of the 3rd Infantry Division was killed and another injured in a vehicle accident in southern Iraq.
CASUALTIES TO DATE (APPROXIMATE)
U.S. military: 23 dead
British military: 14 dead
In Baghdad: Accurate figures are unavailable. Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported one additional death and 32 injuries.
Journalists: 2 dead, 2 missing
ELSEWHERE OVERSEAS
In Amman, Jordan, 4,000 demonstrators burned American flags in protest of the war. Anti-war protests have been growing in Jordan. Also Sunday, four students from Jordan died during U.S. bombing in Mosul, Iraq.
In Tehran, the Interior Ministry said another errant missile struck Iran. This time, Iraq was blamed. Iran had said earlier that at least three American-made missiles had hit its soil.
In Ankara, Turkey, a top U.S. diplomat is expected to meet with the government Monday amid concerns that Turkey will try to send more troops into Iraq. Turkey, citing worries about refugees and terrorists, wants to send soldiers over the border. The United States wants to make sure Turkey doesn't cause problems with the Kurds, who are working with coalition forces against Saddam.
In Ghazni, Afghanistan, a U.S. Air Force helicopter crashed while evacuating personnel for medical treatment. All six aboard died. The cause of the crash was unknown, but it was not because of enemy action, the Air Force said.
IN WASHINGTON
President Bush, speaking upon his return from Camp David, Md., said it was too late for Saddam Hussein to make a deal and go into exile. "He had his chance," Bush said. The president said "massive amounts" of humanitarian aid would reach Iraq this week.
The president on Monday is expected to tell leaders of Congress that the war will require an additional $80 billion. That includes costs of early reconstruction in Iraq, humanitarian aid and homeland security.
AROUND THE USA
The war may cause March retail sales to sag 1 percent from a year ago, a little worse than the flat sales forecast earlier by Kazuto Uchida, chief economist for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Index, which tracks same-store sales for about 80 retailers. He blames "the CNN effect," of people staying home to watch news programs on the war's progress.
WEATHER IN BAGHDAD
Monday
Partly cloudy
High temperature: 77
Low temperature: 60
QUOTE
"They are like the dirtiest of the dirty."
_ Amatzia Baram, a University of Haifa expert on Iraq, describing Saddam's Fedayeen, a brutal paramilitary unit that works among regular soldiers
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(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
PHOTOS (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): USIRAQ
GRAPHICS (from KRT Graphics, 202-383-6064): USIRAQ
ANIMATIONS (from KRT News In Motion, 202-383-3720): USIRAQ
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