The U.S. military in the Gulf says its commanders in Baghdad will decide whether their units should stay in captured areas of the Iraqi capital.
The commanders who entered downtown Baghdad with several dozen tanks are to decide whether their forces should retain the positions they have taken in the city, or return to the suburbs for the night.
That is the word from U.S. Central Command, whose main spokesman, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, told reporters that those are tactical decisions.
"So they will make the decisions on what parts of Baghdad they wish to retain control of, where they want to conduct operations out of, whether they want to move to a different location, exert greater authority in different places, or simply go directly to where they happen to have intelligence on where any regime forces might be located," said Gen. Brooks.
The general said the incursion into Baghdad shows that U.S. forces are able to strike when and where they want.