Only 40mm? Where did they come from? Crazy Pete's Fireworks Emporium? Or am I missing something here?
The Bush administration and the Pentagon knew this very well and where counting on it, but that does not minimize in any way the achievement of our forces, nor do I think this piece attempts to do so.
It does, however, paint a very pathetic picture of the Iraqis. If I didn't know that they where tools of oppression for Saddam I would feel sorry for them. I do feel sorry for the foot soldiers.
Our ability to adjust to the battle field conditions as they presented themselves, combined with up to date intell, aided by instant communications created the confusion in the minds of the Soviet trained leadership of the Iraquis.
The tactics we employed in this victory will be studied for years. The leadership combined with the execution by a highly trained and motivated soldier is the prime factor in this swift battlefield victory.
This newspaper and its staff know nothing of military and write mostly garbage. The Iraqi's felt certain of two things. First we would not risk ground troups for a long time. They looked at Kosovo and Afganistan. In neither of these did we actually committ large numbers of ground forces. We either used surrogates or only air. Saddam felt we would do so again.
The Iraqis expected days if not weeks of air attacks. They did not expect the war to start with a ground attack. We obviously destoryed their command and control facilities very early oh. That meant they were reduced to WWI type communications. They were likely using messengers to deliver orders. That takes time. Time our fast movement did not allow. They did not expect our ground forces to move as quicly as they did. They felt they had many more days before an attack on the Republican guard surrounding Baghdad. They felt certain that it would take as long as it did to clean up the population areas on the way from Kuwait to Baghdad. They never expected us to bypass each resistance area and only secure the supply route. WE only left enough troops to contain the threat of the population centers on the way to Baghdad... we did not pause to defeate them. That certainly surprised the Iraqi commanders. The speed with which we moved and the unexpected ground attack were the key to our success.
Has it occured to anyone that the widely reported Shock and Awe description was highly touted by our military to mislead Saddam and his commanders? The Shock and Awe thing was, I think, designed to make the Iraqis think we were going to do a major and prolonged air war, and only after some weeks would a ground force attack take place.
Saddam was I think certain, that this air attack would not produce victory for us and that he would have a significant amount of time to to understand and prepare for our ground attack. It was not so much that the Iraqi Military was bad, they had the men, the weapons, and ammunitiion. They just were not able to make good used of them. they fought very much like the Russians had trained them. Russian military strategy is no match for the US Army.
The significant thing about our current governement is it is lead by a very bright man. Dubya is very smart. He is one of the few presidents able to think two thoughts at a time. Evidence that he does, is shown in his propensity to mangle words. Like everyone he only has one mouth. But when his mind processes two similar but different thoughts at the same time, and he tries to express them both, the words come out mangled. One part of his brain is thinking a sentence that says misunderstood. Another thought process is thinking a sentence with the word underestimated. The word said is misunderestimated. Only super bright people make such mistakes. Since the media has no super bright people they fail to understand the significance of such misspoken words.
Super bright people tend to feel more comfortable with super bright people. When in positions of authority they hire the smartest people they can. They promote the smartest generals and staff the white house with brainy people. They even hire a press secretary like Ari, that is always two thoughts ahead of the press.
Clinton was and is not all that bright. He is nowhere in the same league with Dubya. Clinton hired people who would make him look good by comparison. Clinton wanted the media to draw the conclusion that he was smarter than those that worked for him. Clinton hired dumber people.
Dubya on the other hand hires the smartest and best people he can. Like all very bright people,Dubya knows that very smart employees tend to make the boss look very brilliant. They accomplish things others could not.
Super bright men like General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld make very smart decisions. They also pick very smart people to work for them.
This translates into quick military victories at a very low cost.. both in money and human beings.
This confuses the heck out of the media.
This tactic is being used here in the CT valley media here but it is even more blatant. Everything about Iraq is: the US made a mistake, the US is making a mistake now, and the US will make further mistakes. http://www.ctnow.com