http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003519470_iraqmilitary11.htmlThe Washington Post
WASHINGTON — President Bush's plan to send U.S. and Iraqi reinforcements to Baghdad to aggressively confront Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias likely will touch off a more dangerous phase of the war, featuring months of fighting in the streets of Baghdad, current and former military officials warned.
The prospect of a more intense battle in the Iraqi capital could put U.S. military commanders in exactly the sort of tough urban fight that war planners strove to avoid during the 2003 invasion of the country. And while Bush insisted there is no timetable associated with the troop increase, military officials said sustaining it for more than a few months would place a major new strain on U.S. forces already feeling burdened by an unexpectedly long and difficult war in Iraq.
Most of all, the White House's insistence that all insurgents and militias, both Sunni and Shiite, be confronted may mean the U.S. military will wind up fighting the Madhi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. That militia is estimated by some intelligence officials to have grown over the past year to about 60,000 fighters. Some in the Pentagon consider it more effective than the Iraqi army.
Among concerns is that the fighting could become a citywide version of the sharp combat this week along central Baghdad's Haifa Street, in which U.S. jets and attack helicopters conducted airstrikes just north of the U.S. Embassy. "There is likely going to be some increased violence in the short run," a senior administration official predicted Wednesday....(more)