Bush waiting to see if Iraq accepts UN resolution
The plan calls for the quick capture of land within Iraq, which would be used as bases to funnel American forces deeper into the country, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Mr Bush, who has publicly acknowledged having received a war plan without mentioning details, approved it prior to the UN Security Council’s vote on Friday last to force Iraq to disarm.
The plan also involves what Pentagon officials and military analysts call a 21st century blitzkrieg -- referring to the surprise attacks involving aircraft and fast-moving armour used by Germany at the beginning of World War II, Pentagon sources said. The sources said that in that strategy, the United States and its allies would launch a ferocious opening air assault involving hundreds, or possibly thousands, of all-weather, satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles combined with covert missions and psychological operations.
The goal, the sources said is to demoralise Saddam Hussein’s generals and discourage them from following orders to unleash chemical or biological weapons.
Officials are concerned that the Iraqi president could order the use of chemical or biological weapons if he feels that his regime is threatened.
The president has not, however, ordered the Pentagon to carry out the plan. He will wait to see whether Iraq accepts and abides by the terms of the UN resolution. If arms inspections go forward without interference, a decision to go to war could be put off for several months, officials have said.
War planning goes on, however, to ensure that the military is ready to act if commanded to do so by Mr Bush.
Pentagon planners had considered an approach that would have used 100,000 or fewer troops, but they settled on a much larger force favoured by General Tommy Franks, head of the Central Command that would run any war in Iraq, said defence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Mr Bush said on Friday he prefers a peaceful approach to disarming Iraq but if that proves futile the military is prepared to “move swiftly with force” to ensure the regime of Saddam Hussein is stripped of its weapons of mass destruction and its ability to produce more in the future.
The New York Times report said Pentagon officials are still working on some details of the war plan, but the basic approach is to begin with the air campaign, then quickly seize bases in northern, western and southern Iraq from which US and allied forces could operate.
A key early objective would be to cut off the Iraqi leadership in Baghdad in hopes of a rapid collapse of the government.
As previously reported, a major strategic aim of a war in Iraq would be to avoid causing major damage to civilian infrastructure such as water and electricity supplies. The United States hopes that by focusing the war on Saddam’s ruling elite it can avoid an anti-US backlash.
The newspaper also reported that Saddam is preparing thousands of civilian volunteers to fill “martyrs’ brigades” and sacrifice their lives to bombs and advancing troops.
Some of these volunteers would hope to slow the American-led offensive by acting as suicide bombers or fighting in neighbourhood defence squads, but their true strategic goal would be to generate anti-American feelings in the region.
The Pentagon already is moving forces into position to ensure that it will be capable of launching swift strikes into Iraq.
The US Navy has two aircraft carriers within striking range of Iraq and two more are scheduled to arrive in the area next month.
The US Air Force says it is preparing to deploy B-2 stealth bombers to the central Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, where they could operate from special hangars now under construction. Other Air Force warplanes are in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf.
In addition to thousands of Air Force and Navy personnel active in the Gulf region, the Army and Marine Corps already have thousands of ground troops in the area and additional equipment and supplies are heading there.
