US: US mechanised infantrymen are taking crash courses in urban warfare, a prospect they have not confronted since the second World War, as they prepare for a fight that could take them to the streets of Baghdad.
Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division usually train to go to war in Bradley Fighting Vehicles alongside Abrams tanks, the cutting edge of the US military's digitised ground forces, which perform best in open terrain.
But as they bide their time ahead of a possible invasion of northern Iraq from Turkey, selected scout units are training without their vehicles in a mock town at the massive Fort Hood base in Texas.
It is an environment that minimises many of the advantages of US military technology and brings out the fighting qualities of individual soldiers, according to division commanders. "This is not the typical sort of training that a mechanised division would do - we haven't taken tanks into an urban environment since World War Two," said Capt Josh Felker, of the division's 2nd Brigade.
"Our focus has been desert warfare, but as we might get pulled into the cities in this next conflict we feel like we have to get up to speed as a division." The US military won the 1991 Gulf War in the open spaces of the southern Iraqi deserts, terrain perfectly suited to the long-range, highly mobile capabilities of US armour and air power.
With a new war looming, analysts believe Saddam Hussein will try to muster his best forces in the capital, where US troops will have to fight in close combat from one building to the next.
US defence officials have said the regime has been concentrating military assets in Baghdad, increasingly using residential neighbourhoods, mosques and other civilian facilities as cover against air attacks.
Troop movements also suggest the Iraqi military is reinforcing defences around Saddam's political stronghold of Tikrit, in the northern half of the country, where the 4th Infantry Division could be deployed if Washington receives the green light from Turkey.
"The urban environment is extremely dangerous," said Capt Felker as a six-man team rushed through the mock town, complete with foreign street names and snipers on the rooftops. Another team had previously infiltrated the town without being seen by the "enemy" defenders but had taken over the wrong building - a potentially fatal error in wartime. - (AFP)