Why We Don't Fight
Mosul abandoned to looters...Kurds pull out of Kirkuk as Americans prepare to arrive...It's not over, the President says, until General Franks tell him that "the certain objectives I've set out" have been reached. But we are already hearing a lot of spin on how the war was won -- this is a culture that loves to hear from the winners, buy their books, the souvenirs, get stuff on ebay...
The Pentagon line is that there's a new way: new technologies have revolutionized warfare. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they (as the English say) -- and it's probably true up to a point -- but it's also a strategic: intimidating any potential enemies by making yourself appear invincible.
There are two more traditional reasons for the way things turned out the way they did: old-fashioned heavy bombing "softened up" troops, just like in 1991. And then there's oldest reason of all: the Iraqis didn't want to fight if they were left a way out. A Republican Guard colonel, at home in Baghdad, tells BBC's Andrew Gilligan.
"From the beginning, I think that the balance of the air power is not equal. Something hit us. The aircraft... destroyed our tanks and equipment," he said.
He said he did not force anyone to stay with the unit. "Every day, one, two, three. Every day one, two, three. Everyone he want to go, leave his gun and go away," he said...
He revealed that Iraqi soldiers had not wanted to fight in the streets of Baghdad because it was their city and home to their families...
In the end, he said, the officers gathered round a fire and decided it was not worth fighting. The unit's troops changed into civilian clothes which they had with them, and went home.
Our correspondent says he increasingly believes Iraqi officers followed orders, but did not really want Saddam Hussein to win and so did not make any serious attempts to defend Iraq.
Of course, he would say that. But it has the ring of truth. The war was "easy" because Iraqis didn't want a fight. Keep it in mind when planning "rolling regime change" in other lands.
Could tunnel-ridden Tikrit on the other hand become another Waco [pdf]...i.e. a standoff siege followed by a fire? Correspondents will be on hand to let us know.
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Mosul abandoned to looters...Kurds pull out of Kirkuk as Americans prepare to arrive...It's not over, the President says, until General Franks tell him that "the certain objectives I've set out" have been reached. But we are already hearing a lot of spin on how the war was won -- this is a culture that loves to hear from the winners, buy their books, the souvenirs, get stuff on ebay...
The Pentagon line is that there's a new way: new technologies have revolutionized warfare. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they (as the English say) -- and it's probably true up to a point -- but it's also a strategic: intimidating any potential enemies by making yourself appear invincible.
There are two more traditional reasons for the way things turned out the way they did: old-fashioned heavy bombing "softened up" troops, just like in 1991. And then there's oldest reason of all: the Iraqis didn't want to fight if they were left a way out. A Republican Guard colonel, at home in Baghdad, tells BBC's Andrew Gilligan.
Of course, he would say that. But it has the ring of truth. The war was "easy" because Iraqis didn't want a fight. Keep it in mind when planning "rolling regime change" in other lands.
Could tunnel-ridden Tikrit on the other hand become another Waco [pdf]...i.e. a standoff siege followed by a fire? Correspondents will be on hand to let us know.
- bruno 4-12-2003 6:26 pm