Originally posted by Chanak
however, having witnessed the Ranger battalion at Ft. Lewis conduct specialized training in such environments, I must say that the Special Operations Group is more than prepared to meet the challenge.
What was the mission in this training? Was it to achieve an objective or occupy the town? The United States, which maintains the best army in the world, has not prepared its soldiers to become stationary targets in an urban environment, which is what would happen if (when?) we conquer Iraq. To see this, we only need to look back to the Battle of Mogadishu to see how a rag-tag army of armed locals can inflict significant casualties on American soldiers.
I do not believe that any Iraqi field commander would order his soldiers to use chemical weapons on Americans, even if Saddam Hussein ordered it. We would simply start carpet bombing or nuking towns in pre-emptive strikes. However, I have no doubt that no matter how bad they think Saddam Hussein is, the Iraqi people would soon come to resent an American military presence that lasts any length of time. Unless there is a definite exit strategy, we would find our soldiers the targets of sniper attacks, car bombings and other acts of sabotage and "terrorism" (freedom fighting?).
Unless we get in and out of Iraq very quickly, anti-American elements in other Muslim nations will flock to Iraqi partisan groups the way they did to the Mujihadeen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. We cannot afford a long occupation or prolonged "nation-building" (interestingly, a term Republicans hate because Clinton did a lot of it, but it seems to be what we're about in Afghanistan and what we will be up to in Iraq). The cost in political capital convincing Arab states that we're not establishing a permanent presence will be high, as will the cost of the war in both money, material and lives if it goes on too long.
We were spoiled by the Gulf War. According to government reports, 148 American soldiers were killed in battle (35 due to friendly fire), 145 killed in other than battle (ie-accidents) and 467 wounded in action (72 were wounded by friendly fire). Since Vietnam, politicians have become very sensitive to high body counts and the Gulf War and the air campaign in the Balkans has only reinforced the notion that war is bloodless and of a "video game" style. If we occupy Iraq, I am sure the cost will be much, much higher. Is Dubya prepared to pay that price?
What is the objective this time? There is no question, to me - the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power in Iraq
Is that all? Then why the armed build-up in the Persian Gulf region? We could remove Saddam Hussein and every one of his chief lieutenants very easily and very effiently with a sniper rifle or a cruise missile. There is an interim government-in-exile forming as we speak that is planning to build a western-friendly post-Saddam Iraqi government that we could install in a matter hours after Hussein's death.
Dubya's dad not only had the opportunity to have Saddam Hussein by Americans, but he had the opportunity to back at least two internal insurrections by Iraqi anti-Saddam forces. He squandered them through a combination of short-sightedness and needing to appease our Arab allies by not meddling (too much) in a Muslim country. Support for Dubya's war in far shorter supply that it was for his dad's war, not only among our usual allies, but in the Muslim nations as well.
What is the real purpose of Dubya's war? To draw attention away from a flagging economy? Defense contracts to his (and his vice-president's) friends? Oil? To finish what his father started?
The party line from the White House is to topple a despot and destroy his weapons of mass destruction. There are far worse dictators in the world and there are more destructive weapons of mass destruction that what Saddam Hussein has, so why go after Iraq?
The World Trade Center attacks have taught us that there are people out there who hate American so much they will kill themselves to kill some of us. How do you think their ideological brethren will feel after we assassinate Saddam Hussien and take over a Muslim country; will it make these people hate us more or less? Are we, as a nation, prepared to deal with the consequences of our actions and the responses this war will generate?
