In the 'Red Zone'

CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- The battle for Baghdad began Tuesday night as U.S. ground forces entered the "Red Zone."

U.S. Army and Marine ground forces advanced on separate axes into the swath of territory around Baghdad that is defended by the Republican Guard and has been characterized by U.S. commanders as the most strategically vital and treacherous of the war.

Although still 50 miles or more from the capital, the attack brought the U.S. military one step closer to their ultimate objective: the capture of Baghdad and the toppling of the government of President Saddam Hussein.

It also ushered in a period of heightened risk for U.S. forces. If the Iraqis plan to unleash chemical weapons, the entry of U.S. forces into the Red Zone -- the area within artillery range of Republican Guard forces south of Baghdad -- is expected to be the trigger, according to U.S. commanders.

The Iraqis are defending the area with extended-range Frog rockets, artillery and other relatively short-range missiles that can carry chemical weapons.

The first indication that Tuesday might be the day for the Red Zone attack came at a meeting on Tuesday of land war commanders, a session that links far-flung units through a classified video television conference. Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the land war commander, signaled the plan.

"We are starting a big maneuver fight in the Red Zone," McKiernan said. "It is a significant close fight."

The attack into the area south of Baghdad involved the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. During the attack, some U.S. units crossed the Tigris river. U.S. military commanders planned to knock out some bridges to isolate some of the Iraqi forces.

U.S. officials say that the attack comes at a time when the Iraqi's command and control seems ragged. Many of the Iraqi moves outside Baghdad, they say, seem to reflect the calculations of isolated commanders or individual groups of Iraqis and may not reflect a coherent national strategy.

The attacks took place during the new moon, allowing U.S. forces to exploit their night vision devices against the ill-equipped Iraqis. U.S. commanders said that when allied forces first invaded Iraq it was foreseen that this would probably allow them to advance close to the Iraqi capital during a time when it was especially dark.

One main foe Tuesday night was the Medina Division, a Republican Guard unit that escaped destruction in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and has, U.S. military officials believe, been battered to the point of being "combat ineffective."

The division is defending the southern approaches to the capital. The Iraqis have been rushing other Republican Guard and regular army units to fill the gaps in the Medina's defense, but allied warplanes have been pounding them, too.

Another opponent in the sychronized attack Tuesday night was the Baghdad Division, a Republican Guard infantry unit that is stationed at al-Kut, along the southeast approach to the capital at al-Kut, about 100 miles from Baghdad. It, too, has been assessed to be on the verge of collapse, but which has been reinforced by Regular Army units.

This phase of the war is what U.S. commands call a deliberate attack. That means that unless Saddam's government suddenly collapses, an increasingly unlikely scenario, the Army and Marines assault will not be a blitz to the outskirts of Baghdad but a methodical effort to destroy, piece by piece, the Republican Guard units defending the capital.

The attack on Tuesday night followed two weeks of bombing, the capture of more than 4,600 prisoners and the deployment of more than 100,000 allied troops in Iraq, many of whom have traversed hundreds of miles and defended against persistent efforts by Fedayeen and other Iraqi paramilitary units to attack allied supply lines.

The ambushes delayed the U.S. advance and initially threw the U.S. forces off stride. Difficulties remained in the rear. But U.S. forces also seem to be making headway in the struggle to control the cities in southern Iraq and are now striving to put sharp pressure on Baghdad.

To mount the attack, the U.S. military has been moving fuel and vast stores of food, ammunition and spare parts north. Air strips have been built in the desert for C-130 supply planes.

To facilitate their attacks against Iraqi armor, the U.S. military has taken over the Iraqi air base at Tallil. The base will be used to refuel the Air Force's A-10 attack planes, enabling them to undertake more attack missions.

The Iraqis have sought to disrupt the logistical push. On Tuesday, the Iraqis fired an al-Samoud surface-to-surface missile at the Americans. An anti-missile battery fired a Patriot PAC-3 interceptor at the Iraqi missile and knocked it down over Bushmaster, an assembly area in Iraq for Army forces. Debris from the intercept rained down on a commander from the 82nd Airborne divisions.

Chemical weapons remain a big worry for the Americans. Last week, Iraqi officials in Baghdad charged that U.S. and British forces intended to use poison gas. The assertion was seen as an Iraqi effort to put out a possible cover story so that Saddam's government would have the option to use poison gas and blame it on the United States and Britain.

To try to persuade the Iraqis not to use poison gas, the U.S. military has begun radio broadcasts that say that any soldier who follows an order to use weapons of mass destruction will be held accountable.

The radio broadcasts also offer an assurance that U.S. and British forces have no intention to use chemical or biological weapons.

"Saddam Hussein and his family cannot execute a weapons of mass destruction attack by themselves,"' a U.S. broadcast read. "It is the duty of every Iraqi who has the means to stop a nuclear, biological or chemical attack to do so."

Fighting around and eventually in Baghdad also requires that U.S. forces reduce the threats to U.S. supply columns.

U.S. troops have cordoned off some of the southern cities, including Najaf, where they received a warm welcome on Tuesday, Nasiriyah and al-Nida.

But on Tuesday night the focus was on Baghdad and Iraq's response. The Americans are gradually moving closer to the capital. The dangers are increasing, and the denouement of the war also appears closer at hand.

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