The start of the battle of Baghdad has been delayed for at least a week, due to the early misuse of airpower by the U.S., say active and retired Air Force officials.

Only after five days of war did air strikes begin to focus on attacking enemy ground forces, particularly the better armed and organized Republican Guard units. During the 1991 offensive against Iraq, ground forces were softened up by a month of bombing beforehand. This time, close air support intensified only after U.S. ground forces--after moving 220 of the 300 mi. to Baghdad--lost their momentum.

To restart the offensive, two captured air bases in western Iraq--H-2 and H-3--were to have been reconditioned enough by week's end so flight operations could begin. These and other captured bases will be used to shift U.S. military operations out of politically volatile Jordan and serve as transshipment points. From these bases, coalition troops and supplies will be funneled to the Mosul-Irbil-Kirkuk area to stabilize the region and establish a blocking force north of Tikrit and the Iraqi capital.

Heavy transport aircraft will fly into these bases where large loads will be broken down and shifted into C-130s for the final leg of the trip. So far, strike aircraft are not planned to be stationed there. The area was thoroughly bombed early in the conflict to destroy anti-aircraft missiles, tactical ballistic missile launch and storage facilities and any organized ground forces. With the area under control, the Air Force's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) efforts will be shifted to the main battlefield around Baghdad.

"There have been two problems with the use of airpower, and one of them has already been fixed," said a senior U.S. Air Force official. "In the first few days, neither the Army nor the Marine Corps used close air support (CAS). Instead of calling in the Harriers and A-10s, the ground forces tried to do it on their own. When they ran into resistance, they used attack helicopters and those took a lot of hits. Now they're back to using traditional CAS." The switch came just as reports surfaced of a 1,000-vehicle convoy headed south out of Baghdad to reinforce the Republican Guard. There were extensive strike aircraft and heavy bomber attacks on the vehicles. The Iraqi movement was later described as a defensive shift rather than a counterattack.