"The U.S. military Thursday began airlifting troops, tanks and equipment for the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division into northern Iraq after about 1,000 paratroopers secured a key airfield in the country's Kurdish-controlled zone," according to CNN.
The U.S. military had originally hoped to send some 60,000 U.S. troops -- including the 4th Infantry Division -- into northern Iraq from Turkey, giving them an option to launch a pincer movement on Baghdad. But the Turkish government rejected the plan.
The airlift begins to give the U.S. the option of that second front. But it won't be ready for another week or so, Reuters reports.
In southern Iraq, British forces destroyed a column of 14 Iraqi T-55 tanks leaving Basra this morning in a "short, sharp engagement," according to the New York Times.
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