Snipers, especially Marine snipers, are highly trained and somewhat older then most troops. These guys were Reservists (which means they take hind teat to the regulars) but as individuals they are very good soldiers.
So how is it that these seven guys were on the horn talking to someone about an exfiltration when all of a sudden a group of insurgents came from nowhere and killed them almost all at once.
What went wrong? Susanhu has the story from former CIA/State Dept. Intelligence analyst Larry Johnson.
The problems are more than just a small group of highly trained marines being ambushed. They were out there in western Anbar Province, Iraq, along the Euphrates River. This is a critical, irreplaceable infiltration route for the insurgents. They have to stand and fight to protect it if it is threatened realistically. That is why the Marines are making regular sweeps through the area.
The evidence Larry Johnson points to shows that the insurgents are not only in control of that area, they have no real fear of being displaced. In such a key area, the Marines are making sweeps and taking control of target areas, but then they are pulling out and going somewhere else. They don't have any troops, American or Iraqi, they can leave to maintain control of the territory they just took.
Shades of Viet Nam. This is what Westmoreland did. The idea was if you kill enough of the enemy there won't be anyone to come back. It didn't work in Nam and it isn't working in Iraq.
Looks like the Marines are using a strategy which is known to not work. The reason is lack of troops.
That's the story of Iraq. The administration lied to get us into the war, didn't have enough troops to control the country when the Iraqi Army melted away, then they disbanded the Iraqi Army that could have provided effective manpower to resolve some of the problems.
The answer to military success on our side is "boots on the ground." Don't have the boots, we are losing the war. All the "Happy Happy Bullshit News" the right-wingers want to see coming out of Iraq won't cover up that nasty little truth.
For another view of how the U.S. is making the same mistakes in Iraq that we did in Viet Nam, see Juan Cole. He quotes military historian Tom Collier.
Frankly I don't think our military brass are making these mistakes unknowingly. They are restricted by lack of troops and simply can't implement a better strategy, so they are trying to take advantage of the great mobility the American troops have.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely to work. They are killing time and troops until they pull out prior to the November 2006 elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment