I've been puzzling over how to launch a ground invasion without giving it away beforehand with the massive logistical buildup. Ie, how do we maintain the element of surprise?
What I've finally come up with (this is just me, but the only thing I can figure) is, in Desert Storm we started by positioning all the troops and equipment, then when everything was in place we began bombing- for what a month?
But do we have to do it that way again? Perhaps if we just started major bombing without the troops being in position and then move the troops in position as quickly as possible once the bombing began? Maybe, we say "We're going to bomb for 60 days straight before we invade". That gives us 60 days to start hauling all our stuff over. Obviously, the troops could be moved quickly. But we already have an infrastructure in place that was not there for Gulf War One (GWO). We learned much from GWO that we had to learn on the spot then. We can apply that knowledge this time. I think we could put a pretty credible invasion force on the ground in 60 days. Particularly if we use assets like these tanks in Jordan. We also have several units worth (I won't specify the sizes) of armor stored in the Middle East that we could likewise do a crash maintenance course on- basically a lot of equipment is already there (I helped in the process of putting it there) and this is the type of situation for which it was intended.
The beauty of this is- Saddam would see us putting our pieces in place but couldn't do jacksh!t because he would be getting the bejesus bombed out of him the whole time. If he tried to move armor to the borders to shore 'em up, B-52s come along and flatten them. Plus in recent weeks we've destroyed some strategic targets of Saddam. About two a week on average. Radar sights, command centers. We're already prepping for something. This could be an option.
Great reply, PS. I sure like your thinking!!!