U.S. Forces Patrol Baghdad to Stop Looting - 2003-04-12

U.S. and British forces are working to restore order in Iraqi cities, although they are also moving to break remaining resistances. U.S. forces in Baghdad state that eliminating pockets of resistance remains their top priority, but they are simultaneously patrolling the capital to stop looting and lawlessness that has persisted for several days. A U.S. military spokesperson says Marines are moving from Baghdad towards Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein and the last stronghold of loyalist forces in the north. U.S. aircraft have bombed positions of the so-called Republican Guard in recent days. U.S. forces have moved to the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, which Iraqi forces abandoned over the weekend. Kurdish fighters, along with some U.S. special forces, have occupied both cities. German television reports that a senior aide to Saddam Hussein surrendered to coalition forces in Baghdad today. He is General Amir al-Saeed, a scientific advisor to Saddam who frequently dealt with United Nations weapons inspectors and is among fifty-five senior Iraqi officials that U.S. forces are actively pursuing. U.S. special forces also detained fifty-nine men who were traveling by bus towards the western borders of Iraq. A U.S. military spokesperson stated they had money and letters promising rewards for killing American soldiers. The spokesperson had no information on the nationality of those detained. Meanwhile, the coalition has begun sending additional troops to Iraq. Senior U.S. military officials confirmed that advance units of the 4th Infantry Division, which has over ten thousand soldiers, crossed the border from Kuwait into Iraq today. Additionally, the Navy plans to return two aircraft carriers sent to the Gulf for the Iraq war back to the U.S. in the coming days.