ON TO BAGHDAD!

New York Post ^ | 4/03/03 | RALPH PETERS

[kattracks]

AS the U.S. Army and Marines race each other to Baghdad - traditional service rivalry at its best - American battlefield innovations have come so fast it's hard to keep up with them. Theory failed, but ferocity saved the day.

[goldstategop]

Nothing can stop America. Perhaps it will sink into Kim Il Jong the worst way to hasten his own demise would be to nuke Los Angeles. You don't want to arouse the sleeping giant of the world and fill him with a terrible resolve.

[LS]

What is interesting about this is that we APPEAR to have completely overcome the interservice rivalries that doomed Vietnam (where, even with a supportive LBJ, the strategy was poor). Now, apparently, the Army, Navy, USMC, and Air Force are all so integrated that they indeed see themselves as parts of the same body, rather than different players on a team. The distinction is important. A body operates without thinking, and doesn't have "hog dogs."

No one finger wants to be "better" than the other, and the foot does not seek to be the lung.

This is also a remarkable new development in that for the first time the intelligence operations seem to be operating in NEAR "real time," gathering and processing info as fast as it can be collected, and, more important, analyzing it and re-formulating tactics on the move!

Woe to anyone getting in the way of this "terrible swift sword."

[Elkiejg]

Now, apparently, the Army, Navy, USMC, and Air Force are all so integrated that they indeed see themselves as parts of the same body, rather than different players on a team. The distinction is important. A body operates without thinking, and doesn't have "hog dogs."

My observation of this cooperation is a tribute to President Bush and Rummy. First their absolute support, faith and appreciation of the military (opposite of Bubba). Second is the shakeup by Rummy of entrenched Pentagon fat cats and Clinton holdovers. They whined about his high-handed ways because he was cutting out the crap. We have now seen the positive evidence of both mens work - YEAH!!

[LS]

Rumsfeld has received tremendous criticism from the former generals, but his overall instincts toward a fully integrated battlefield and lighter (NOT EXCLUSIVELY LIGHT, please) force has proven itself in Afghanistan and now here.

People should look at history, and see how desperately the "surface admirals" resisted John Holland's submarine; how they delayed the advent of the aircraft carrier; how they resisted "feedback loops" in gunfire at sea; and now we are seeing the dinosaurs object to a lighter, more mobile force.

After this, we will continue to get lighter in some areas, but I also expect to see major upgrades in the Abrams and in air transport of heavy stuff. Rummy is brilliant, and like most brilliant people, he is abrasive when he "knows he is right." Fortunately, usually he is right.