Iraqi Capital Loses Power, Running Water 
April 4, 2003 03:51 AM EST 

An Iraqi couple waits for a ride from Yarmouk hospital
in Baghdad, Friday, April 4, 2003, after being 
released from the hospital's emergency room. U.S.
infantry occupied part of Baghdad's airport Friday and 
sealed the entrance closest to the capital, fighting to
seize a strategic prize as coalition forces converged
on President Saddam Hussein's seat of power.
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)		 U.S. armored units backed by warplanes fought building by building to clear Iraqi forces from Baghdad's airport Friday, while civilians inside the city lost electricity and running water and wondered if a siege was imminent. 

By the thousands, U.S. Marines and infantrymen converged on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's capital. But American officials, both on the front lines and at the Pentagon, indicated an all-out assault might not be their first option. 

Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, whose infantry battalion was trying to secure Saddam International Airport, said the approach of U.S. forces should send a message to the people of Baghdad. 

"We're here, and they can rise up and deal with the regime appropriately," he said. 

Similarly, President Bush's top military adviser, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard Myers, said U.S. troops forces might isolate Baghdad, rather than storming it, while work begins on forming an interim, post-Saddam government.  
"When you get to the point where Baghdad is basically isolated... you have a country that Baghdad no longer controls," Myers said at the Pentagon. He estimated that Saddam's regime already has lost effective control of 45 percent of Iraq's territory. 

At the airport, U.S. infantry sealed off the entrance closest to the capital, and combat patrols moved through the sprawling facility, which has a 13,000-foor runway and numerous military and civilian buildings. 

Britain's defense secretary, Geoff Hoon, said the takeover of a large part of the airport was "a huge psychological blow to the regime." 

"It demonstrates to the regime and the people of Baghdad that we're there," Hoon said in a BBC radio interview. "We know they've been told by the leadership that there are no coalition forces anywhere near Baghdad. They will be able to see for themselves soon how untrue that is." 

In support of the ground troops, Navy warplanes from the carrier USS Kitty Hawk dropped satellite- and laser-guided bombs on hangars and a fuel depot at the airport, and struck a nearby military complex. 

Coalition forces also bombed Iraqi Air Force headquarters in central Baghdad early Friday, one of many air assaults on the smoke-filled capital. Blasts on the outskirts before dawn shook buildings in the city center. 

The air strikes came after the first widespread power outage of the war plunged Baghdad into darkness Thursday night. Though some bombs hit the city before the blackout, U.S. military officials said they had not targeted Baghdad's power grid. 

A sustained power outage would disrupt water supply and sewage, and create the threat of outbreaks of disease among the population of 5 million. 

Iraqi resistance to the American offensive has been sporadic. U.S. Marines said they killed about 80 Iraqis in an intense battle Thursday in Kut, to the south of Baghdad, but in other areas Republican Guard soldiers dispersed or surrendered. 

U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry captured four Republican Guardsmen south of Baghdad on Friday after a 30-second gunbattle over a vegetable patch. Two of the Iraqis were in uniform; the other two had changed into civilian clothes. 

"We got bombed last night, and most of our tanks were destroyed," one of them said through an interpreter. 

The Marines' 1st Division was poised on the southeast outskirts of Baghdad after advancing along the Tigris River past abandoned Iraqi positions. Though temperatures headed into the 90s, Marines wore stifling chemical suits to protect against possible toxic attacks. 

In the latest in series of fatal accidents and "friendly fire" incidents, the U.S. Central Command reported that one of the 1st Division Marines was killed near Kut when his automatic weapon discharged while he slept, firing one round into his chest. 

With U.S. troops now on Baghdad's doorstep, planning for postwar Iraq intensified. 

Secretary of State Colin Powell told European governments Thursday that the United States must have the lead role in postwar reconstruction. Many of Powell's NATO and European Union counterparts - with whom he conferred at NATO headquarters in Belgium - believe the reconstruction should be overseen by the United Nations. 

"We must stabilize Iraq and the region," said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, whose government opposed the war. "The United Nations is the only international organization that can give legitimacy to this." 

In Washington, Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to give President Bush about $80 billion for initial costs of the war and for anti-terrorism initiatives. 

Senators approved their measure 93-0 and the House adopted a similar bill by 414-12. The chambers are expected to send Bush a final package by his deadline of April 11.