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Article: Throughout history, Baghdad has been difficult to defend, rule.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- March 25, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Bill Glauber
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait _ Mongols sacked it, the Ottomans controlled it and the British shaped it.
But none of them could hold it.
Now, after a sprint of tanks and other heavy armor through a bleached, bleak desert, U.S. troops are bearing down on Baghdad.
Tasked as liberators instead of conquerors in their bid to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his regime, the Americans are following a well-worn path to an ancient city that hugs the banks of the serpentine Tigris River.
From its heyday as a cultural center in the 8th and 9th Centuries to its sad fate in the early 21st Century, Baghdad remains an ...