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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread

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To: KLP who wrote (5337)3/25/2003 3:42:12 PM
From: Hawkmoon  Read Replies (2) of 15987
 
Do you know if the Army "doctrine" was written before such air power, or when it was written? Would having the amount of air power we have change the "Army doctrine"...?

It's all part of a doctrine DOD formed called "Air-Land" battle.. Basically the American version of "Blitzkrieg".

It was developed during the '80s when the prevailing belief was that the US forces would be required to fight a war in Europe from the position of being outnumbered. So the only way to truly win would be to use combined arms in such a way that we could go on the offensive and disrupt the Soviet rear areas and thus, disrupting and dissipating their offensive strength. The focus was primarily on maneuver warfare rather than relying upon static defense.

As for clearing out the cities, it would appear that Basrah is experiencing an uprising. Whether this is a ruse created by the Iraqis in order to draw British and American forces into urban combat, or the "real deal" is still in question. And apparently we're still trying to decide if we have the capability of going to the rescue if we decide it is credible. (and the politics pretty much dictate that we're going to have to).

Another interesting tidbit is just who turned off the water to Basra.. Was it the Iraqi defenders, or us. I can see both potential scenarios.. They turn it off in order to weaken any insurrection, while we might turn it off in order to incite an insurrection, blaming Hussein's troops, and showing ourselves coming to the rescue.

Expect the same thing in Baghdad. Those folks are not going to surrender, or welcome us, it now seems. Thus, they probably need to be treated as a hostile population and pressure brought to bear upon them so that they become unruly and give the Republican Guard troops their own little rear area problems.

Hawk
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