Israeli Military Amazed, "Jealous" At U.S. War Against Iraq

World Tribune.com ^ | 04/14/2003 | Special to World Tribune

[Dirk McQuickly]

TEL AVIV — Israeli defense officials and military commanders have expressed amazement over the capture of one of the largest and most powerful Arab countries by what they say amounted to fewer than three U.S. Army divisions.

The officials said the U.S. strategy of avoiding enemy troop concentrations as well as exploiting combat air supremacy comprises methods far more advanced than those employed by the Israeli military.

"This has been a very strange and unprecedented war and it will take us awhile to learn what took place," Yuval Steinetz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said. "We will have to learn from this war and draw the conclusions."

"I am jealous of them [U.S. military]," Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, head of the Israel military's C4 directorate, said. "They have advanced in areas that we were leading in only a few years ago. They have the ability to put everything together in command and control. Our navy and air force have systems. but we have to integrate them."

Officials and military commanders agreed that the U.S. war in Iraq overshadowed the 1967 Israeli victory over four Arab countries, including Iraq. They said the United States sustained about 100 casualties in three weeks of fighting that resulted in the capture of Baghdad and most Iraqi cities. In contrast, about 600 Israeli soldiers were killed in the six days of the 1967 war, most of them in the ground battle with Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula.

[Blueflag]

Regarding apparent Iraqi ineptness.

(1) they don't/didn't train well, so they couldn't fight well.
(2) they had far inferior situational awareness, and were severely handicapped when they could command.
(3) their command and control nature is about management and control, not leadership and initiative. they were doomed in fast omving comabt actions.
(4) we had beeter tactics/weapons/comms, etc., etc.

[TankerKC]

The only counter seems to be an effective anti-air system...

...one that is not susceptible to physical attack, computer network attack, jamming, spoofing, EMP bombs…good luck!

[algol]

Key components of the strategy:

You left out, in the words of an Israeli general some years ago, that "it helps if you're fighting arabs".

[Constitution Day]

Bump for later - I'm outta here

[Mark Felton]

Actually effective shoulder launched anti-tank weapons dispersed by the hundreds in 3-5 man teams, each operating independently would have severely hampered success. It may well likely have created a quagmire, particularly if the environment included lots of forests, trees, hills and other types of ground cover.

[tricky_k_1972]

Check out Popular Mechanics last issue on, "Floating Islands". Some folks already have this figured out. Make several Aircraft Carriers/ Supply Barges linkable into one massive mile long floating base, each separable and capable of operating by it self.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[Leatherneck_MT]

It would take longer and we would suffer more casualties to be sure, but the end result would be the same. If the Chinese decided to get involved like they did in the 50's, we would have a decidedly different outcome from what we had in the 50's. Our Force Multipliers would so overwhelm any attacking force that there would not be much left on the other side but dead bodies and squeeking wheels.

Semper Fi

[eBelasco]

You left out, in the words of an Israeli general some years ago, that "it helps if you're fighting arabs". LOL!

[Blueflag]

I disagree. Field artillery is an easy target for the right munitions and is easily pin-pointed by counter-battery systems and RPVs and JOINTSTARS etc., etc. They would indeed inflict damage, but would die rapidly.

the Korean capital is a problem because it is in range right now. That's a severe tactical issue, but would not alter the outcome.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Israel is no stanger to shock and awe. They shocked and awe'ed the Arab world in six days, just 25 yrs ago.

LOL! And what was the strategy behind spending three days punching and chipping holes in Yasar Arafat's compound with construction equipment. And then the Israelis turn around and leave. Hehehe..... That was about the weakest damn thing I have ever witnessed.....

[WilliamWallace1999]

Point of information: The possibility of a nuke in NK has been widely reported, but the lamestream media glosses over on detail from publicly release info about the size of a nuke in NK. The probably do not have one small enough to be missle launced. Most likely would be used as a supermine on advancing troops. Technologically much harder to build a nuke that can withstand the g-force of a missle or artillery round as opposed to a dumb bomb. Doubt a heavy lift NK bomber would be allowed to enter SK airspace.

[Saundra Duffy]

Shock and awe - what'd you expect?

[arielb]

laser technology jointly developed by Israel and the US will be able to take out artillery

[TankerKC]

I didn't see the report. Were they referring to the “OODA” Loop. This is a term coined by Col John Boyd. OODA is Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Your OODA loop has to be faster that the bad guy’s. It’s even better if you can “get inside” his loop. For example, if I take away his ability to observe (camouflage, radar jamming etc) , he can never act.

Strategy of a Fighter Pilot

[Paraclete]

Yup. I believe it was Boyd they were talking about.

[konaice]

"One-sixth of out (sic probably meant our) military overran Iraq."

One Sixth in terms of total numbers, (including reserves) but virtually the all of the combat oriented divisions were employed.

Our military has been so thined out by the Klinton years that if Mexico attacked right now we would have to call up all reserves. The bulk of our combat troups are over there.

[ApesForEvolution]

I heard Raytheon can only produce 700 next generation Tomahawks per year, which is up from 400/yr. Shouldn't this be a competitive growth industry? The war on terror could take another 10,000 cruise missiles before it's over.

[AlextheWise1]

yeah we can only make maybe a thousand of the new Tacticle tomahawks a year, but we will also be building the neww JASSMs now...

[Blueflag]

If they tried to come up through Texas, the Texans would stop 'em in the first 20 miles of their advance.

;- )