The idea would be to seize three areas of Iraq - the south, the north and the west - and use them as staging points to threaten Baghdad in the hope that this would precipitate an internal collapse of the Iraqi regime.
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The targets would be what are being called "pillars of the regime" - air defences, weapons sites and facilities, presidential sites. This time, bridges in the centre of Baghdad and other cities would be hit only when necessary.

The idea would be to try to avoid civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures. This, it is felt, would help convince the Arab world that it is regime-change which is being sought, not the punishment of the population.

» Leaking plans for a rolling war