Wait or Take Baghdad Now?

WashPost - Essentially, Franks has to decide whether to wait for the tank-heavy 4th Infantry Division, which defense officials say won't be ready to join the attack until the middle of the month.

The path to Baghdad is "wide open," one defense official said.

"I sure as hell would want" the 4th Infantry Division before attacking Baghdad, said retired Army Col. W. Patrick Lang, a former expert on the Iraqi military for the Defense Intelligence Agency. "We're going to need a bigger force for this."

Not all experts agreed that U.S. forces should proceed with caution.

Retired Marine Col. Gary Anderson, an expert in urban warfare who has participated in several war games of an Iraq invasion, predicted that U.S. commanders would take a gamble and immediately test the defenses of the capital to see if a sharp rap would shatter the government.

"We're approaching the time of desperate measures, of the maximum risk of chemical weapons, or of a political coup," said Jeffrey White, another former DIA expert on the Iraqi military.