[Polybius]

Yes. And I hope that freepers will take the time to at least read what Wretchard has conjectured about Fallujah. I doubt any of us have enough insight to say for sure whether he is or is not right, but the scenario is very plausible, and so far seems to fit what little we have seen reported.

I checked out the Fallujah/ Operation Valiant Resolve analysis by Wretchard.

I advocated such tactics on Post 17 of this 1 April 2004 thread and on an earlier thread.

Predictably, the press will call the early phase a "quagmire".

What's your opinion on the tactics of Operation Valiant Resolve, Travis?

***************************************

17 posted on 04/01/2004 10:37:01 PM PST by Polybius:

You don't need to mutilate dead bodies, MOAB women and children or act like Nazis. You merely have to identify your enemy, isolate your enemy and then kill your enemy. That is what war is all about.

Here is how I would handled this Sunni Triangle snake pit:

1. Set up a cordon sanitaire around Fallujah. Nobody goes in. The residents only go out, once, through check points to be sorted into "totally harmeless" or "in need of imprisonment".

2. Wait as long as it takes to have nobody left in the city except the Bathist die-hards.

3. Wage mechanical urban warfare on the city and the holdouts with heavy emphasis on air power and artillery and practically no emphasis on infantry.

4. Sustain the attack until there is not a stray dog left alive to roam the streets.

You have killed your enemy, spared the innocent and taught the enemy in other cities that it is unhealthy to mess with the U.S.

Rinse and repeat as often as necessary.

17 posted on 04/01/2004 10:37:01 PM PST by Polybius

[oceanview]

it sounds good, but they would have kept most of the women and children from leaving to use them as human shields.

[Travis McGee]

Who is "Wretchard" of the Belmont Club blog? I'm no graduate of the war college, but he strikes me as highly thoughtful and well versed in the art of war. I really can't fault his analysis, but I claim no special credentials in this scale of operation.

[Travis McGee]

Please read the Wretchard/Belmont Club link at 49. You might want to pass it around.

[Cap Huff]

You've thought it through too, I see. I do hope this is similar to what is going on. Overwhelming strength sometimes takes the form of steady, relentless, crushing pressure. It doesn't all have to be bombs bursting.

I have no real expertise in such strategy/tactics, but I think I can tell when a plan has been reasonably thought through.

[johnb838]

One of the pundits on Fox this morning was talking about the way they handled a Tikriti town and he said you cut off the food and electricity and water and let the people know that when they start turning over the bad apples then they start getting the good things of life that are needed to sustain life again.