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US military commanders plan to radically revise the tactics taken by their occupation force in Baghdad in the next few days to assume a more active posture, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
The US occupying troops, which have been criticized for having been too reactive and confined to fighting positions, will increase night operations and foot patrols throughout the Iraqi capital, the newspaper quoted US commanders as saying.
Also, by early next month, the US Army will fly helicopters over Baghdad for the first time. The aircraft generally will not use their weapons but instead will conduct surveillance and support ground forces with searchlights.
As part of an effort to change the image of the US force and make it seem at once more pervasive and less threatening, the big M-1 tanks that have dominated many major intersections and checkpoints for the past six weeks will be withdrawn and replaced by smaller Jeep-like Humvees, according to The New York Times.
In addition, the "footprint" of the US troop presence in the city is being expanded, with small units establishing permanent operating bases at such locations as Baghdad University, which until now has only intermittently hosted US soldiers.
The makeover is scheduled to begin in earnest at sundown Sunday, when a brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, which charged into downtown Baghdad in early April, turns over control of the middle of the city to a fresh brigade from the 1st Armored Division.
The US military divided Baghdad into three major sectors, and US commanders describe the central sector as the most significant politically.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2003)
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