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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (91395)	4/9/2003 5:04:53 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

MILITARY ANALYSIS Push to Finish the Job By MICHAEL R. GORDON CAMP DOHA, Kuwait, April 8 American commanders say Iraqi forces are reeling from almost three weeks of air and land attacks, and they are mounting a three-pronged Army assault on Baghdad to try to force a quick end to the war. When the land campaign was first devised, American commanders envisioned a far more deliberate assault. The attack on Baghdad was to involve forward operating bases on the periphery of the Iraqi capital. Careful probes would determine the whereabouts of the Iraqi leadership. Armed with such intelligence, armored and light infantry movements would strike at their targets and then quickly withdraw. Top commanders cautioned that they intended to be patient and did not plan to rush forces into the heart of a heavily defended city. But that deliberate plan has been put aside in favor or a more audacious approach, officials say, one that seeks to take advantage of the Iraqi military's heightened vulnerabilities but that also presents risk to American forces. The senior American commanders plotting the offensive say they have concluded that the Iraqi command and control is frayed and that Saddam Hussein's security forces are unable to mount an effective urban defense. American generals believe that the thunderous air strikes against the Republican Guard outside Baghdad and the rapid Army and Marine advance have caught the government and its defenders off guard. The final proof of that, American official say, was the meager defense Iraqi paramilitaries were able to mount when the Army's Third Infantry Division tanks and armored personnel carriers drove through the city on Saturday. So, following a deep-seated principle, the American military is responding to the indications of enemy weakness with more strength. They are sending more troops and more armor into Baghdad from more directions, and they are doing so more quickly than they had anticipated. REST AT:http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/09/international/worldspecial/09STRA.html