4th Infantry Division

WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq is providing Pentagon officials with a biting reminder that the nation's most powerful tank divisions can't run to a fight - they have to sail to it, at speeds no faster than about 22 knots. At a time when Army leaders near Baghdad say they want more tanks and artillery to protect their vulnerable supply lines, the nearest heavy armored division is still at least a week away, its soldiers flying in from Texas but its equipment still sailing around the Arabian Peninsula headed for Kuwait.

WASHINGTON - Some senior U.S. military officers both in Washington and in the Persian Gulf are troubled that U.S. forces in Iraq do not have enough tanks and other armored vehicles to complete the drive on Baghdad and protect the long supply lines that have been vulnerable to attacks by irregular Iraqi forces. These officers, who are mostly in the Army and requested anonymity, complain that there is only one tank-heavy unit in Iraq - the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga. - and that some tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles might have to be pulled back from their approach to Baghdad to protect supply lines, perhaps delaying what has been a fast-paced campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.