By Reuters, 03/24/03

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LONDON (Reuters) -- Stop and consolidate. That was the advice from defense experts who fear U.S.-led forces might stretch supply lines dangerously thin in the race to Baghdad.

The logistical tail is stretching ever further across Iraq. Soldiers could be ambushed and supply routes sabotaged by persistent pockets of resistance behind the front line.

The risks are already plain. Iraqi television Sunday showed five shaken U.S. prisoners of war, apparently members of an army supply convoy ambushed when it took a wrong turn during a battle near the southern city of Nassiriya.

"These lines are the arteries of war. If they get severed, the forward troops are going to run out of fuel and ammunition very quickly," said Charles Heyman, editor of the military publication Jane's World Armies.

"There is no security in place to protect these supply routes. It begins to look as if they need more troops for force protection. I am sure the generals are addressing that problem."

After the deaths of several U.S. soldiers and the capture of the five paraded on Iraqi television, U.S. commanders may be now more cautious about the speed of their advance.

"They have moved very, very fast and those supply lines are certainly stretched. Their security must be of great concern." Heyman told Reuters.

Military leaders insisted the balance was about right and ruled out the need to bring in more troops.

Group Capt. Al Lockwood, the main British spokesman at Central Command in Qatar, told Reuters: "One of the basic rules that you learn as a military man is that you never extend your supply lines.

"This is a very careful plan. We are sticking to it. We made the timelines and we are sticking to those as well. Our supply lines are not over-extended."

Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon acknowledged that some problems in the campaign meant supply routes could be stretched.

"We have seen...a significant push northwards...(But) we should not underestimate the huge logistical effort required to support this," he told a London news conference.

Junior Defense Minister Lewis Moonie saw no need for reinforcements. "There is no thought at present that it is necessary. The role of our forces always was to smash forward toward Baghdad as quickly as possible."

But that could come at a cost.

"If a fuel supply convoy was ambushed, that clearly would have an effect. I think they have become very vulnerable. There isn't enough protection," said Colonel Christopher Langton at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"I think they will have to call in more troops. They are going to have to consolidate before they start trying to deal with Baghdad," he told Reuters.

The streets of Baghdad could pitch them into the worst military scenario of all -- protracted urban guerrilla warfare.

"The cities are not important in the short term," said Michael Codner at the Royal United Services Institute.