Cheney's "Western Excursion", ;thought you might be interested. I believe Wolfowitz was also very much involved with planning.
sa.speed.net
THE WESTERN EXCURSION
Gen. Schwarzkopf's one Corps plan for Kuwait (high diddle diddle...) is rejected. An "Inchon-type" landing possibility does not exist for Kuwait. Gen. Schwarzkopf no longer had a monopoly on land war planning, with Gen. Powell, and SECDEF Cheney also involved. Cheney's idea, from Henry Rowen, Asst. Defense Secretary, was drawn from Sir John Bagot Glubb's Book, History of the Arab Peoples. Glubb reported that Arab and British forces put down a pro-Nazi Iraqi rebellion, in 1941, with a two pronged attack from Transjordan (Jordan) and Basra. If they could maneuver in Iraq's western desert, so could the Americans. Logistics would be demanding, but it was an American strength. The Americans could not use Jordan, but they could use the Tapline Rd. to Hafar al-Batin. Cheney's planning group, led by LG Vessey, developed the "Western Excursion Plan." Its advantages: shock, threat to Baghdad, Iraqi regime collapse, occupy W. Iraqi desert for negotiations; easy air assault of Iraqi counter attack, cut-off Jordan logistics support, attack scuds, keep Israel out of war. |
