What is known about the Iraqi division comes from intelligence reports.

Most Iraqi divisions, he said, had 85 to 90 percent of the troops they were authorized.

He said that 29 Iraqi divisions, amounting to 300,000 men, had been put out of action.

Officials said that the two Iraqi divisions heading south have about 350 tanks.

Whatever the exact casualties, the majority of three heavy Iraqi divisions had been destroyed.

Three Iraqi divisions were encircled in the operation and destroyed within a week.

"If they're in place, they're going to die," he said of the Iraqi division.

Even when the bombing turned to Iraqi divisions in the field, the focus was on destroying equipment and supplies rather than simply killing soldiers.

A healthy spirit of competition had developed between the former Iraqi divisions and those moved down from Iran.

But the Iraqi division apparently dissolved in the face of allied air attacks and the advancing marines.