More Pawns In Bu$h's War

US calls up 30,000 new troops
By Roland Watson in Washington and Michael Evans, Defence Editor



MORE than 30,000 American reinforcements were ordered to the Gulf last night as fierce battles raged through southern Iraq and the Republican Guard went on the offensive.
A thousand paratroops were also dropped into northern Iraq to seize a key airfield in the first sign that America was opening up a northern front.

The deployments came as war planners were forced to change tactics and put the battle for Baghdad on hold. The “shock and awe” bombing of the capital and key targets around the country has failed to frighten President Saddam Hussein and his army into submission, and Pentagon chiefs concede that they underestimated the resistance they would face in the South.

The push towards the capital has been severely hampered by repeated attacks on armoured columns and supply convoys that are trying to bolster the American front line 50 miles south of Baghdad. These ambushes have fuelled criticism that the Pentagon went to war with too few troops.

Now one of America’s most modern fighting units — the 16,000-strong 4th Infantry Division — is being sent to Kuwait, where its 200 tanks, other vehicles and equipment are waiting. It will be joined by 14,000 more troops from other units, including the 3rd Armoured Cavalry.

The 4th Infantry should have been used to open the northern front through Turkey, but the plans were blocked by Ankara. Instead, the men from the 173rd Airborne Brigade flown in from Italy last night formed the first substantial force in the North.

The operation — one of the biggest of its kind since the Second World War — dropped riflemen, snipers, mine-clearing engineers and surveillance teams armed with mortars, anti-tank missiles, Humvees and machineguns into an area where several hundred special forces have been operating. Heavy weaponry, equipment and more troops will follow, although it was not clear how they would be delivered.

The reinforcements were ordered in after a series of setbacks in the opening days of the war. After several thousand bombs and missiles, Saddam has seen his ministries, army headquarters and palaces pulverised yet Baghdad and the four regional comanders are still functioning.

Last night US forces were involved in a major battle with Iraqi units for control of a bridge over the Euphrates, 13 miles southeast of Najaf. A number of US Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles were destroyed by Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades.

Further south, an 80-vehicle US Marines supply convoy came under heavy attack after it had stopped just north of al-Nasiriyah, another strategic crossing point.

The Marines could also encounter the Republican Guard earlier than expected: a convoy of the crack troops moved out of Baghdad yesterday under cover of sandstorms, heading straight towards the Marines deployed in al-Nasiriyah.

US intelligence said that Republican Guards had been spotted in two towns along Highway 7, which runs southeast from Baghdad to al-Kut. Their vehicles were being attacked by warplanes and General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that they were being engaged “where we find them”.

Another column of up to 100 Iraqi tanks was heading out of Basra towards al-Faw peninsula. This group also came under fierce attack from warplanes and tanks.

With coalition forces failing to achieve the strides north that they had hoped for — or to take towns in the South — the Pentagon has had to shift tactics. US officials said that they would have to focus their attention on dealing with the resistance in the south before they could put everything into the march north.

The Pentagon war plan had envisaged a lightning march on Baghdad, buoyed by popular support in the newly liberated south. The aim had been to provide a solid platform for the swift toppling of Saddam, possibly from within his inner circle.

But officials now concede that they had underestimated the vulnerability of the American supply line and the potency of the guerrilla-style resistance led by the 40,000-strong Fedayin militia that is loyal to Saddam. One official said: “We didn’t think the Fedayin would play such a big role. It’s not a huge deal, but we will have to adjust accordingly.”

Others said that rather than keep pushing north, the allied forces would have to confront the enemy in the South before amassing troops and firepower near Baghdad. However, that means losing the momentum that was supposed to be the key to success.

President Bush, who will discuss the progress of the war with Tony Blair today, continued to try to rally morale yesterday, insisting that American forces would be “relentless in our pursuit of victory”. But he accepted that the war was “far from over” and pulled back from declaring that the US was “ahead of schedule” — the phrase he had planned to use. US forces were well prepared for the battles ahead, he said. “I can assure the long-suffering people of Iraq that there will be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing near.”

Mr Blair arrived in Washington yesterday evening — after a flight in which his chartered Boeing 777 was struck by lightning — and flew directly to Camp David for several hours of talks with Mr Bush.

They discussed the Middle East peace process, post-conflict Iraq and international diplomacy. Their crucial council-of-war on the state of the conflict will come this morning with a video conference linking them with military commanders, ministers and officials. They will then move to other controversial areas, including the type of administration that should run a post-war Iraq.












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