Pentagon considers hitting Baghdad first - report

The Bush administration is considering a risky approach to its planned campaign against Iraq that involves taking Baghdad first, it was reported today.

The ‘‘inside out’’ tactic, which also involves seizing one or two key command centres and weapons depots, is hoped to lead to the rapid collapse of Saddam Hussein’s government.

Senior Department of Defence officials told the New York Times the strategy would capitalise on the American military’s ability to strike over long distances.

But no formal plan has yet been presented to President George Bush or the senior members of his national security team, they said.

The inside out tactic is essentially the reverse of the US strategy in the Gulf war of 1991, which dislodged Iraq’s occupying army from Kuwait.

The officials said Iraq’s power structure is highly centralised and authoritarian, and by striking Baghdad first, US planners hope to pre-empt orders to put weapons of mass destruction in the field.

They added that by hitting the capital first, the mid-level officers in control of some of these weapons might not fire them if they feared Saddam had been killed.

The plan, they told the newspaper, could be accomplished with a smaller invasion force than the 250,000 troops suggested in earlier drafts - appealing to skittish Gulf allies whose bases would be needed for a war.

Bush has called Iraq part of an ‘‘axis of evil’’ and warned Baghdad to let in United Nations inspectors or face unspecified consequences.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has joined Bush in demanding that the weapons inspectors must be readmitted.

Baghdad claims it has rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and has barred inspectors since 1998.