Iraqi forces in chaos

CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- U.S. commanders said they believe Iraqi forces are reeling from almost three weeks of air and land attacks, and they are mounting a three-pronged assault on Baghdad to try to force a quick end to the war.

When the land campaign was first devised, U.S. 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 of a more audacious approach, one that seeks to take advantage of the Iraqi military's heightened vulnerabilities but that also presents risk to U.S. forces.

The senior U.S. commanders plotting the offensive 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. U.S. generals said they believe that the airstrikes against the Republican Guard outside Baghdad and the rapid Army and Marine advance has caught Saddam's forces off guard.

The final proof of that, U.S. official said, was the meager defense Iraqi paramilitaries were able to mount when the Army 3rd 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.

This is not an occupation, U.S. officers said: The U.S. military has no interest in fanning out through the city, taking control of its diverse, ethnic neighborhoods. It has neither the forces nor the desire to control and administer a city of some 4.5 million. Instead, the campaign is an aggressive effort to tear down what is left of Saddam's organization and overwhelm its defenders by striking at Saddam's security forces from different sides.

This is how the plan was unfolding Tuesday night. Three large task forces from the 3rd Infantry Divisions were attacking the city from three directions.

The 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, which set the stage for Tuesday night's action when it punched its way into the center of the city on Monday, has stayed there. Instead of rushing in and out of the city, the brigade is using Saddam's former government center as a base to strike out at Saddam's forces and whatever remnants of Saddam's government it can find.

Forces from the 3rd Brigade, meanwhile, have maneuvered around to the north of the city and are driving south. The 1st Brigade is attacking from yet another direction. At the same time, U.S. Marines are attacking from the east.

The attacks are being coordinated with simultaneous attacks within the city by Special Operations forces.

The idea of coordinating attacks by conventional forces with commando missions has already been used in the operations to secure the cities in southern Iraq and is an outgrowth of the American experience in Afghanistan. The theory is that the combined efforts of conventional Army and Marine forces, American air power and agile Special Operations forces will quickly unhinge the enemy.

"The purpose is to attack the regime," a U.S. official said. "We are not talking about a long-term occupation."

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