Pentagon Admits Third Infantry May Have To Be Withdrawn

3/27/03 12:52:01 AM

Washington Post

Washington, DC -- [Excerpts from a Washington Post article]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33955-2003Mar26.html

Despite the rapid advance of Army and Marine forces across Iraq over the past week, some senior U.S. military officers are now convinced that the war is likely to last months and will require considerably more combat power than is now on hand there and in Kuwait, senior defense officials said yesterday.

While some top planners favor continuing to press north, most Army commanders believe that the pause in Army ground operations that began yesterday is critical. A relatively small force is stretched thin over 300 miles, and much of the Army's killing power, in more than 100 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, has been grounded by persistently foul weather or by battle damage from an unsuccessful pre-dawn raid on Monday. To the east, the Marine Corps advance on the city of Kut was also hampered by skirmishing along its supply line and fuel shortages at the front.

The degree to which the supply lines have been stretched can be seen in the fact that the 3rd Division this week was alarmingly low on water and was also in danger of running short of food, the sources said.

The question is whether the 3rd Infantry Division will be able to continue to fight the Republican Guard without reinforcements. "I think the Third I.D. is going to run out of steam pretty soon, both people and machines," said Killebrew, the retired Army planner.