Battle Plans for Iraq July 6, 2002 President Bush has made no secret of his desire to drive Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. What has been unclear is how Mr. Bush expects to strike. Partial answers to that question come now in the form of a preliminary Pentagon planning document described in The Times yesterday by Eric Schmitt. It suggests that the military brass is considering a large-scale air and ground assault involving as many as 250,000 American troops. At this early stage in planning - long before actual operational details are set - there ought to be some discussion in Congress and around the nation about the manner of American intervention in Iraq. At the moment, the White House seems to be moving toward a military offensive early next year. The willingness of officials to outline Pentagon thinking in recent days suggests unhappiness in some quarters with the current drift of strategizing. One option that has apparently now been discarded is an Afghanistan-style campaign to be built around airstrikes and the use of Special Operations forces in alliance with Iraqi opposition groups. Wayne Downing, the retired general who resigned last week as the chief White House adviser on counterterrorism, had favored such an approach. Under the preliminary Pentagon plan, tens of thousands of Army and Marine ground combat troops would invade Iraq, most likely from Kuwait, backed by hundreds of warplanes based on carriers and airfields in as many as eight nearby countries. Warfare on this scale carries substantial risks. A new war against Iraq may not be a rerun of the low-casualty 1991 campaign to liberate Kuwait. This time, with the survival of his regime on the line, Mr. Hussein may not be as easily deterred from using his hidden stocks of anthrax, botulinum toxin and VX nerve gas. Congressional leaders, including top Democrats, have rushed to voice approval for the popular notion of getting rid of Mr. Hussein. They have not, however, lived up to their responsibility for demanding a full public discourse about how to pursue this attractive goal with maximum chances of success and minimum risk to American forces, interests and alliances. Discussion of these issues is possible without giving away legitimate military secrets. War with Iraq, if it comes, is still many months away. What is urgently needed now is informed and serious debate.