General Chides Critics of 'Easy' War

NewsMax.com ^ | 23 April 2003 | Newsmax Staff Writer

[txradioguy]

General Chides Critics of 'Easy' War

NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, April 23, 2003 WASHINGTON – Don't tell the commander of U.S. ground forces in Baghdad that Operation Iraqi Freedom was an "easy" success. "I get very upset when I hear anybody say that this was so easy. There are 600-plus Americans who are dead or wounded in the course of this conflict, and it wasn't easy for them," Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan said today in a video-teleconference at the Pentagon.

"I don't think you'll find anybody that says it was an easy fight. So if I sound a little emotional, I apologize, but there is nothing in wartime that's easy for that formation or for that pilot or for that ship when they're in harm's way."

The success says more about U.S. equipment, training and leadership than it does Iraqi weakness, he said. Key to the victory was the attacks on Iraq's buried fiber optics communications network, which left many Republican Guard formations with very little "situation awareness" of the battlefield. They did not know where they could safely move, "which played right into the decisive lethality that both the ground and the air component were able to put on him," McKiernan said.

McKiernan commanded the more than 200,000 U.S., British and Australian soldiers and Marines, including hundreds of special forces, in the 35-day-old conflict. The effort is transitioning from combat to stability operations but has settled into neither.

Around 700 military police are deploying into Iraq to help restore order in the streets, and with the addition of those and other forces, McKiernan said his force is adequate to the task.

"I would caveat that, though, by reminding everyone that there aren't enough soldiers or Marines to guard every street corner and every facility in Iraq, so there's some risk-taking in some areas," he said.

About 125,000 of his troops are in Iraq proper. Others are in support positions in Kuwait and elsewhere.

"I am satisfied that I have had enough forces on the ground to execute the campaign very decisively to this point. And we have the additional forces we need for phase four [stability operations] flowing in now," he said.

McKiernan's priority is now restoring basic services: getting the power back on, getting water flowing, restoring medical services, getting transportation systems up and running and establishing law and order in the streets.

He said coalition forces had deliberately established a low profile during the Shi'a religious pilgrimage in Najaf and Karbala. More than 2 million Shi'a have participated.

"What we tried to do with our military is achieve the right balance of providing some security and an ability to react if something went wrong, but we basically stayed out of it because it is a Shi'a religious pilgrimage and they have been very good at conducting that operation themselves," he said.

McKiernan said he thinks the majority of Iraqis were glad to see the Americans.

"About a week ago, I took a fairly fast, low-level Black Hawk flight around about three-quarters of Baghdad. And I will tell you, as I looked down in every area - Shi'a, Sunni, every area in Baghdad - probably 80 to 90 percent of those on the ground were waving at me. Now we can all say that's just a false signal, but I'll tell you, it kind of made my heart feel pretty good."

McKiernan rejected the criticism that ground forces did not secure Baghdad's Central Bank and the National Museum of Iraq, among other facilities, from looters. "There's a fundamental answer to that question, and the answer is that we had to fight our way into Baghdad," McKiernan said. "And so if some of the facilities became subject to looting over that period of time by Iraqis, I will tell you that our priority was to fight the enemy and to protect Iraqi people."

[txradioguy]

LTG McKiernan is the commander of the U.S. Third Army. The Army component of CENTCOM. It's nickname is "Patton's Army" Patton was the 3rd Army Commander at the time of his death in 1945 and it was the spearhead of the American drive into Germany. It's the patch I proudly wear on my right sleeve.

[TalBlack]

Oh come off it General, yeah the guys did what they had to do, it's not their fault that the iraqis didn't fight but it wasn't Iwo or pushing the Germans back to Berlin. As fights are measured it was a creampuff. If you don't understand that; factor in, instead of the Iraqis, the Jap fighter circa 1943 in the same number as the Iraqis and with the same weapons. We'd win but it would still be going on and it would take years to end. I mean lets not lose our perspective!

[txradioguy]

Come off it? He's right. Unless you're there in the middle of it, it's reals easy to sit back and pontificate about the "cakewalk" they had. It doesn't matter if it's one soldier shooting at another or divisions of soldiers sweepeing across a grassy plain to engage in glorious engagements....combat on any level is NEVER a "cakewalk".

[1rudeboy]

You train in order to make things look easy. Mike Mussina can pitch a no-hitter, but I doubt he'd call it a cakewalk.

[Cosmo]

Miguel Indurian was always criticized for making the Tour de Freedom ( you understand) look too easy....I'm sure he gets alot of chuckles out of that notion to this day

[TalBlack]

Did you read what I wrote? Or do you just go automatically into moral outrage anytime someone has an opinion on the war that diverges from yours?

What does where I am and what I've done or haven't done have to do with anything? If this is the case don't write another word on the war since YOU weren't there! You suffer from the same "handicap" that I do.

To put this war in there on the same level as Iwo in MIND BOGGELING!

[Polybius]

As fights are measured it was a creampuff. If you don't understand that; factor in, instead of the Iraqis, the Jap fighter circa 1943 in the same number as the Iraqis and with the same weapons. We'd win but it would still be going on and it would take years to end.

The Iraqis, in the 8 year long war Iran-Iraq War, inflicted one million casualties on the Iranians and suffered half a million casualties themselves.

A 1943 Japanese Army with 1943 weapons or a 1943 Japanese Army with outdated Soviet weapons, tactics and training such as the Iraqis had would suffer just as lopsided a defeat against the 2003 U.S. military just as the Iraqis just did.

The war fighting capabilities of the 2003 U.S. military makes war against 2003 Iraqis or 1943 Japanese with 2003 Iraqi weapons the equivalent of a war between two 1940 Panzer Divisions and the Luftwaffe vs. the 1865 Army of the Potomac.

[txradioguy]

Excuse me? Yes I DID read what you wrote. And I don't just give knee jerk reactions to people who disagree with "my opinion" of the war the way you do to people who disagree w/ your point of view. And how exactly do you know that I'm not there or wasn't there before? Or won't be there again (there being in actual combat) again soon? You don't. You put a grunt who survived Iwo in a room with a grunt just back from some of the battles in Iraq and you'd find they would argee that thrie battles were just as intese as the others. It may boggle your mind for the simple fact that you haven't studied military history as closely as someone with 3 stars on their collar points. Or maybe you don't agree with his opinion but at least I'm not telling you to "not write another word" as you suggested to me.

[Damagro]

To put this war in there on the same level as Iwo in MIND BOGGELING!

---

Nobody but YOU compared it to Iwo or anytrhing. The General just said war is never a cakewalk. Chill. Pearl Harbor was no 9/11 either , but I'm sure it wasn't pleasant

[TalBlack]

I didn't "tell" you anything! I made a retorical point. There is a difference. As for the two "grunts" they have one big thing in common that makes them brothers: They did what they were called upon to do. They were not in control of what they encountered. But WHAT they encountered had a value as what it was. Iraq ain't Iwo. Any grunt who is honest will admit this. As for the Japs: I meant the Jap fighter as HE WAS with whatever weapons the Iraqi had. That fanatic with that will to WAR. There would be no point in morphing him into an Iraqi as the Iraqis were because, well, then he wouldn't be the Jap fighter anymore he'd LITERALLY br the Iraqi, thus sucking any meaning out of the exercise. Honestly: what do you think would be going on over there RIGHT NOW if this were the case
?

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

As fights are measured it was a creampuff?? You don't know what you are talking about!

This commander KNOWS first hand the sacrifices that took place over there. He saw it firsthand. He is smart enough to know that EVERY single troop that is killed, MIA, KIA or injured did not just do a "cake walk". Your statement is an insult to those who have given their all, are harmed, and to the loved ones left behind who also gave their all.

Perhaps you served before,.. if you did do you think your service was more noble?

We both happen to feel the troops were awesome. Perhaps even some of the best our nation has ever seen. Their training has been stellar,..and their bravery and abilities are what won this war. We are as proud of them, as we are of those we served with, of our friends who never returned.

To try to diminish this commanders understanding of what he KNOWS "firsthand" and his obvious "appreciation" for what those who gave their lives or were injured during this war have endured and given, is insulting. The fact that ALL WARS are ugly and hard, even when won this quickly seems to have escaped you.

Your comments are just the epitomy of ignorance.

[TalBlack]

Cake walk is a relative term. We are talking about war as a movement not the struggle of each soldier. Any man in any battle will be at the limits of his adrenalin production. Iraq was an easy war. Some of this was planning and some of this was luck and THAT is "war" in a nutshell

[TalBlack]

Your comments are silly pollyanna nonesense. You don't seem to have read what I wrote. I don't know what to tell you.

[Polybius]

As for the Japs: I meant the Jap fighter as HE WAS with whatever weapons the Iraqi had. That fanatic with that will to WAR.

A "fanatic with a will to war", be it a World War II Japanese or a 2003 Iraqi Fedayeen or a fanatical Islamist jihadist making suicide charges on a Toyota pick up truck against a U.S. Bradley will always suffer a devastating defeat when confronted with a U.S. force that is qualitatively head and shoulders above them.

By June, 1944, most of Japan's veteran naval aviators were dead. In the Marianas, on June 15, 1944, the Japanese launched Operation A-Go as an all-out attempt to stop the U.S. carrier forces.

When relatively raw Japanese aviators met the now well-trained American naval aviators that morning, the result was The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

In that action, the World War II Japanese you speak of lost 426 planes while the U.S. lost 29 planes.

Question: Would you consider The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot an American "cakewalk" over the Japanese?

Question: Would you consider the disasterous Union charges at Fredericksburg and Cold Harbor as Confederate "cakewalks"?