Baghdad Battle May Topple Saddam

QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - Despite the vast technological superiority of U.S. forces in potential combat against Iraqi troops, the prospect of a street fight in Baghdad makes American war planners shudder.

But that kind of warfare may be necessary to remove President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites) from power. He has promised to take any war with the United States into his cities, and U.S. military and intelligence officials acknowledge that combat in Baghdad's neighborhoods may be Saddam's best chance to counter some of America's military advantages.

Military strategists hate the idea of fighting in cities because it is so costly to both armies and civilians.

A defending force has many places to hide: buildings, rooftops, cellars. Streets turn into funnels for gunfire. Homes and parks become the front lines.

In a city, artillery bombardment and precision airstrikes — important aspects of U.S. military superiority — carry with them the potential of heavy civilian casualties should a bomb go awry. Communications are spotty where there are tall buildings.

"You're receiving fire from rooftops. You're receiving fire from streets and windows, and sewers and cellars," said Col. Frank Panter, who commands the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at the Corps' Quantico base, which studies urban warfare. "Any open area would probably become a killing field."

An urban enemy has three weapons — an AK-47 automatic rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, and a cell phone to coordinate attacks, Panter said.

A military adage says that an offensive force can expect to lose 30 percent of its troops taking a city. But some U.S. military planners are trying to overturn the old thinking by developing new tactics and technologies for urban combat.

Baghdad itself offers a diverse landscape for combat, a mix of modern wide boulevards and ancient side streets. It is divided by the Tigris River into western and eastern halves. Other waterways leave the older, eastern city essentially an island, reachable only by one of numerous bridges.

Most of the Iraqi government's buildings, and Saddam's palace, are on the west side. Baghdad's civilian airfield is west of town; the interior of the city has two military airfields, one on each side of the river.

An invading force would find itself fighting in a first-world downtown, surrounded by third-world suburbs, said retired Marine Lt. Gen. Bernard Trainor, who last visited Baghdad as a journalist in the 1980s. It has a sewer system and some basements, but no subway system — vital facts for planners who want to advise troops where to look for enemy attacks.