U.S. troops advanced toward Baghdad quickly today, breaking the Republican Guard's defensive line in several places.
Some U.S. units were reported to be less than 20 miles from the city.
The Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard was essentially destroyed by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force after having been plastered for days by air strikes.
The 3rd Infantry Division was fighting its way through the remnants of two other RG divisions.
Today's journalism scandal
The other day, it was Peter Arnett saying on Iraqi TV that the U.S. war plan had failed.
Now, it's a front-page correction in the Los Angeles Times, disclosing how one of its photographers combined two photographs to make a single better one. The photographer was fired.
Unfortunately, digital photography makes such hoaxes pretty easy, so this may not be the war's last one. Major newspapers do, however, have strict policies about doctoring photographs, so transgressors who are caught find themselves on the street.
The market for Iraq war souvenirs
E-Bay long ago validated the notion that Americans will buy anything, and it's clear that it's true of the Iraq war, too. This morning, there were 2,699 Iraq items for sale on the site: currency, buttons, t-shirts, posters, you name it. Many of the items were drawing few, if any, bids, however.
Up-close reporting
Some of the most detailed and gritty battlefield dispatches have been coming from the Boston Herald's Jules Crittenden. If you want to know what the war looks like on the ground, check out this file from yesterday.
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