US President George W. Bush said today that American-led forces were less than 50 miles from Baghdad and fighting the "most desperate" Iraqi army units before the looming battle for the capital.
At the same time, Mr Bush and other US officials escalated their criticism of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government as they sought to rally public opinion behind the war in the face of mounting questions about its tactics and duration.
Mr Bush accused Saddam's "dying regime" of committing dozens of atrocities against its own people and prisoners of war, citing graphic reports of an Iraqi woman who "was hanged for waving at coalition troops."
He said Iraqi forces were murdering citizens who refused to fight, brutalising and executing prisoners of war and opening fire under the flag of surrender. Iraqis counter-attacked by accusing the United States of targeting a popular Baghdad market in an air raid they said killed more than 50 people.
"Every atrocity has confirmed the justice and urgency of our cause," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address. "War criminals will be hunted relentlessly and judged severely."
Mr Bush was spending the second weekend of the war at Camp David, the presidential retreat about 60 miles from the White House in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. He will lead a videoconference with his war council today.
Despite criticism of the war strategy and tougher-than-expected resistance on southern battlefields, Mr Bush said US and British forces were taking control of the country and closing in on the capital.
"American and coalition troops have continued a steady advance and are now less than 50 miles from Baghdad," he said. "The regime that once terrorised all of Iraq now controls a small portion of that country."
But reports suggest US-led troops closest to the Iraqi capital seemed in no hurry to advance farther for now as they awaited new supplies of ammunition, food and water.
US Central Command denied today that there had been any pause in military operations to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"I think that with respect to a pause, there is no pause on the battlefield. Just because you see a particular formation pause on the battlefield it does not mean there is a pause," Major General Victor Renuart told a news conference.
Earlier, US military sources said commanders had ordered a pause of four to six days in their northward push towards Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance.