NEAR NAJAF, 26 March 2003 — A sandstorm blew in over US troops advancing on Baghdad yesterday, slashing visibility and bringing some convoys to a standstill, Reuters reporters with the invasion force said.
Officers told soldiers the storm could last around 60 hours.
But a US general, speaking at the headquarters of the US-led invasion of Iraq, said all-weather weapons enabled US forces to maintain pressure on Iraqi units defending the capital and the road leading to it.
But a US soldier said an Apache and a Black Hawk helicopter went missing during the heavy sandstorm in southern Iraq.
“At the moment one Apache and one Black Hawk are unaccounted for,” said the senior officer with the Bravo Company aviation unit under the command of the 3rd Infantry Division at an unidentified point to the south of Nassiriyah.
Five other Apache helicopters which had also taken off landed safely, the officer added. Poor visibility forced a search for the two helicopters to be put off.
“Visibility is down to about five meters,” Reuters correspondent Matthew Green reported at a point from west of the southern town of Nassiriyah, where a US Marine convoy of some 40 trucks laden with ammunition, food and fuel ground to a halt.
“It’s stopped us from going anywhere,” said one US Marine corporal in the convoy, declining to be named.
Sand swirling in the wind was so thick it was impossible for drivers to see vehicles a few meters in front of them, increasing the risk of collisions.
“You can’t see anything, we’ve already had a couple of little accidents with people ramming into each other,” the corporal added from the cab of his truck.
Drivers complained of hacking coughs and the abrasive dust stinging their eyes, turning their lips and faces gray with the gritty powder, and forcing them to don goggles and bandanas to protect themselves.
Wind ripped tarpaulins covering crates of 5.56 mm ammunition for American rifles off the back of at least one truck, riming every surface in a thick, ashen layer.
“Weather has had an impact on the battlefield with high winds, with some rain, with some thunderstorms, and that’s occurred really throughout the country,” Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart told a news briefing at the headquarters in Qatar of the US-led invasion.
In Baghdad itself, the strengthening wind also blew up dust, clouding the sky, cooling temperatures and, combined with oil fires that are still blazing, reducing visibility, Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki said from the city.
The storm, however, did not halt raids by US planes in and around the city. “Our precision all-weather weapons systems and aggressive integrated operations plan by our air and land components, have allowed coalition forces to maintain and increase pressure on the regime on all fronts, even in the bad weather,” Renuart said.
In southern Iraq and at US Army bases in northern Kuwait, soldiers ran for cover as dark clouds descended over the area at mid-morning, lightning flashed and heavy rain began to fall.
“The southerly wind has picked up overnight,” Luke Baker said from a position with the US 3rd Infantry Division near Najaf, 160 km south of the Iraqi capital.
“Normally we have two helicopters accompanying the convoy. I’ve seen helicopters grounded, it’s almost certainly because of the dust,” Green said west of Nassiriyah, to the south.
Officers on the ground acknowledged everything slows down when a desert storm cuts visibility and drives grit into soldiers’ eyes and equipment.
Planes fly above the swirling dust, but helicopters find it much more difficult to move around and landing is difficult when pilots can barely see the ground.
“It is going to slow us down considerably,” said Major Hugh Cate III of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division, which specializes in launching air assaults behind enemy lines.
“It is hard to fly in 90-knot winds and reduced visibility. It’s not impossible, but it is difficult,” he said.
