THE US military is planning a second liberation of Baghdad to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government of Iraq is installed. Pacifying the lawless capital is seen as essential to establishing the authority of the incoming government and preparing for a significant withdrawal of US troops. Plans are being laid by US commanders in Iraq and at the US army base in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under Lieutenant-General David Petraeus, who has trained Iraqi troops.

The battle for Baghdad is expected to entail a "carrot-and-stick" approach, offering the population protection from sectarian violence in exchange for rooting out insurgent groups.

Sources close to the Pentagon said Iraqi forces would take the lead in the crackdown, supported by US air power, special operations, intelligence, embedded officers and back-up troops. Helicopters suitable for urban warfare, such as the manoeuvrable AH-6 "Little Birds" used by the US marines and special forces and armed with rocket launchers and machineguns, are likely to complement the ground attack.

The sources said US and Iraqi troops would move from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, leaving behind "Sweat" teams - an acronym for "sewage, water and trash" - which would improve the local living conditions by upgrading clinics, schools, rubbish collection, water and electricity supplies.

Sunni insurgent strongholds are almost certain to be the first targets, although the Shi'ite militias such as the Mahdi army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade would need to be contained.

US President George W. Bush and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are under intense pressure to prove to the American public that Iraq is not slipping into civil war.

An effective military campaign could provide the White House with a bounce in the polls before the mid-term congressional elections in November. With Mr Bush's approval ratings crashing below 40 per cent, the vote is shaping to be a Republican rout.

The Iraqi government, when it is finally formed, will need to demonstrate it is in charge of its own seat of government.

"It will be the second liberation of Baghdad," said Daniel Goure, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank.

"The new government will be able to claim it is taking back the streets."

Baghdad is a swirling mess of competing Sunni and Shi'ite militias and al-Qa'ida fighters, and the city has been sliding into chaos at an alarming rate.

Larry Wilkerson, former US chief of staff to Colin Powell at the State Department, said a crackdown in Baghdad was one of the few ways in which the Iraqi government could bind the new army and prove its mettle. "They have to show they can liberate their own capital," he said. "Baghdad is the key to stability."

The operation is likely to take place towards the end of the northern summer, giving the government time to establish itself. If all goes to plan, US troop withdrawals could take place before the end of the year. In the absence of progress by then, the war may come to be seen by the US public as a lost cause.

Lieutenant-General John Vines, who stepped down as commander of ground forces in Iraq at the beginning of this year, said it was essential to reduce the number of US troops from the current 140,000. "There is an incredible amount of stress and I'm worried about it," he said.

General Vines cautioned that any attacks against the insurgents would be "fiendishly complicated". The approach would have to be "locale by locale", he said. "Ultimately we want a police solution in Baghdad."

US forces would try to avoid the all-out assault that was used to subdue Falluja in 2004.

The generals involved in planning the battle are architects of the "clear, hold and build" strategy in Iraq, designed to isolate insurgents from the population and prevent them regrouping in urban strongholds as soon as the military's back is turned.

General Vines's replacement as commander of the ground forces in Iraq is Lieutenant-General Peter Chiarelli, who pioneered the use of force with Sweat to subdue Sadr city, a working-class Shi'ite district of Baghdad, in 2004.
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18834229-31477,00.html
The Sunday Times
Additional reporting: AP