Washington ? American forces might stop short of storming Baghdad and instead isolate it while the makings of a new national government are put in place, President Bush’s top military adviser said Thursday.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated the coming days might bring neither an all-out fight for the city, as many have predicted, nor a conventional siege of the capital.

“When you get to the point where Baghdad is basically isolated, then what is the situation you have in the country?” he said at a Pentagon news conference. “You have a country that Baghdad no longer controls, that whatever’s happening inside Baghdad is almost irrelevant compared to what’s going on in the rest of the country.”

Over time, Saddam Hussein and his inner circle would lose completely their ability to communicate with Iraq’s military forces, which already are in a state of disarray, and to control water and electricity, Myers said.

“Whatever remnants are left would not be in charge of anything except their own defense,” he said.

Difficult days

In a step toward gaining control of key levers of power, U.S. soldiers launched an attack Thursday on Saddam International Airport on the western edge of the capital. Another important target may be the Rasheed military air base in southeastern Baghdad.

Although Myers did not rule out any scenario for Baghdad, his comments strongly suggested that the intention was to bleed Saddam’s government of its political and military authority without launching an all-out ground assault that would risk high casualties.

He did not suggest that it would be easy, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, “There likely will be difficult days ahead.”

U.S. diplomats were caught off guard by Myers’ suggestion that an interim government could begin taking shape while Baghdad is isolated by U.S. troops, perhaps for a lengthy period of time.

One senior official on Bush’s foreign policy team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the comments could send a signal that U.S. officials were not confident of their ability to overrun Baghdad.

No deal-making

Rumsfeld, appearing with Myers, said U.S. ground forces led by the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force had arrived “near the regime’s doorstep.” He did not say what might happen next, but he emphatically ruled out any deal that would save Saddam.

“There’s not a chance that there’s going to be a deal,” Rumsfeld said. “It doesn’t matter who proposes it, there will not be one.”

He denounced those behind any talk of deal making.

“The inevitable effect of it, let there be no doubt, is to give hope and comfort to the Saddam Hussein regime and give them ammunition that they can then try to use to retain the loyalty of their forces with hope that one more time maybe he’ll survive,” Rumsfeld said.

Myers’ remarks were the most expansive explanation of how the Pentagon hopes to avoid urban warfare.

He cited several factors U.S. officials believe would work in their favor. Among them:

l About half of the 5 million people in Baghdad are Shiite Muslims, who have been oppressed by Saddam’s regime. “You could assume that they might be helpful.”

l At some point an Iraqi interim administration will take shape, “starting to work the post-conflict governance,” Myers said. “It’ll take some time. But you’ll have that.” He gave no details.

l Even if the government does not collapse or fall victim to a coup, there may be no rush to dispose of it, Myers said. “You’ll start working at it as you can. But one of the things you can do is be patient about that.”

Also, the allies have control of Iraq’s southern oil fields, which account for at least half the country’s oil resources, Rumsfeld said.