Iraqi Army Feeling the Pinch : Gulf War: Baghdad extends the draft to include 17-year-old students. The youths must report by March 20.

In an indication of the war’s toll on Iraq, Baghdad today said that it will begin drafting all 17-year-old males. Last month, Iraq lowered the conscription age from 18 to 17, but exempted youths still in school.

The decree announced over Baghdad radio said all 17-year-old males had to report to the conscription offices between Feb. 15 and March 20 or face unspecified legal action.

The latest call-up came as Iraq said its forces were prepared for battle with the allies despite the nonstop bombardment that began Jan. 17.

President Bush, meanwhile, said after meeting his two top military advisers that the U.S-led military alliance in the Gulf is in no hurry to begin a ground war.

“The air campaign has been very effective and will continue for a while,” Bush said.

Bush spoke with reporters after getting a report from Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on their weekend visit to the Gulf war front.

Hundreds of allied warplanes pounded Iraq today, destroying a major bridge, taking out Scud missile launchers and choking off traffic to the military headquarters in Basra, U.S. officials said.

U.S. pilots returning from the raids reported dropping tons of bombs on concentrations of Iraqi tanks and other armor. “We hated to come back but we ran out of bombs,” said Capt. Dewey Gay, 26, of Warren County, Tenn.

U.S. military officials said Iraqi jets that have fled to Iran pose little threat because their pilots are inexperienced and cannot be kept combat-ready.

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark, just back from a visit to Iraq, said today that the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 civilians have died in the allied bombing.

Iraqi Religious Affairs Minister Abdullah Fadel also said “thousands” of Iraqi civilians have died. It was the first time a senior Baghdad official spoke of such high casualties.

In Washington, the White House accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of waging a “propaganda and P.R. war” that exaggerates civilian casualties and damage.

Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that even Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev may have been led astray by the Iraqi claims.

Also today, Iraq fired another Scud missile at Israel, and the army said it landed in an unpopulated area. It was the 12th Iraqi rocket attack on Israel.

And Iraq fired a Scud missile at the Saudi capital, but it was destroyed by two Patriot missiles.