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THE SOAPBOX The future will likely mark April 9, 2003 as independence day for Iraq. Despite the cry of quagmire from the experts in the media it should be noted that taking down a country of any size, armed with anything from long guns on up is no easy feat. To have done so, again I might add, in such a short time is remarkable. Blitzkreig does not do this kind of warmaking justice; this is truly hyper-warfare. Here's my short list of gee-whiz achievments from this campaign. Embeds with viedo satellite phones, a double master stroke. Precision-guided concrete "bombs", though I think the cumbersome term "kinetic device" is more accurate. Mostly though, our professional and motivated military personnel, especially the operations of Air Force foward air controllers and the PsyOps and other Special Operations folks, some of which whose stories will never be publicly told. There is only one lesson or loser (among many) from this conflict I will mention and that is the concept of fast, light and small forces. The loser here is small. It is the looting and general lawlessness subsequent to the collapse of the regime that disappoints. Call me cynical or pragmatic, but the fringe of evildoers present in every society will take advantage of the vacuum of law and order, whether during war, natural disaster or other disturbance. In Iraq it became particularly acute with the looting of banks, zoos and museums all hard hit. I agree with SecDef Rumsfeld, General Myers and the JCS and Gen Tommy Franks that we had the right mix of forces; we had enough combat power to take down the country, I just don't think we had enough to secure all of Iraq's infrastructure (Warden's Third ring, Airpower Journal (9(1), 40-55) after it was taken down. Though I have not yet read the Warden piece referenced I am sure he defined infrastructure as power, water, natural gas, fuel, sewage, food distribution and probably financial infrastructure such as banks and depositories. I would now include cultural infrastructure like antiquities, museums and zoos as this has, sadly, been empirically proven. There are always thieves available for valuables. I am inclined to think we knew better, knew we needed more forces, and not necessarily large, heavy battle forces, but patrol and security forces. We tried to work the Northern Front but proceeded without it. Why did this equipment remain in port or harbor anchorage off the coast of Turkey long after it was clear there would be no transit permission from Turkey? The only other possible explanations are 1.) stubborness, even after it was clear that there was to be no route through Turkey, or 2.) it was a colossal feint using the reserve heavy force. I noticed that we gave Turkey $1 billion anyhow, which is a gesture of appreciation for what, maybe , doing exactly what we wanted Turkey to do? That said I believe the force size was a constraint we decided early on we had to live with given our small entranceway into Iraq. While theoretically possible to shoehorn more personnel and equipment into Kuwait, it would have left an even larger force fixed in a relatively small place prior to the start of hostilities, a very tempting target for a pre-emptive strike. As it was we were quite vulnerable; I am amazed that we weren't struck. It was only prudent that such a heavy force and many personnel be held in reserve and safely out of the Persian Gulf and or Kuwait. As I said in the previous editions it is a better life that all humans desire and in this regard a coalition effort resulting in a swift and humane ending to the current hostilities will surely lead to a better life for all in Iraq. While it will now take time for the Iraqi people to adjust to their new way of life, the rest of Southwest Asia will also find their lives getting better and more secure. I think we would like nothing better than to get out as quick as possible, but on a geopolitical time scale that probably means 10 years or more. But hey, it's been 12 years since tha last Gulf War. At least now the shooting will probably stop; it never really did after the last Gulf War. The swift results in Iraq has awakened North Korea (and China, who agreed to host, and presumably participate in, multi-lateral talks with North Korea), as Den Beste noted. It remains to be seen where this is going, but there should be no doubt in our ability to fight a land war. Their is still time for all countries in Southwest Asia so see the faults of their reasoning. It is my hope that they will find a better use for their capital than the production of arms and WMD's for hard currency. Despite all the success, many uncounted Iraqis and over 100 Americans died so far with law and order yet to be firmly and homogeneously applied across all of Iraq. American and coalition member Men and Women are still in harm's way. Many Iraqis face difficult and dangerous days ahead. Take confort in the fact that there is a future, and not the abyss, ahead for the poepleof Iraq. In the spirit of the Christian Easter holiday I offer you the following from The New Testament: 1 Cor 5:6b-8 the webmaster
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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE * A young boy, about eight years old, was at the store picking out a large box of laundry detergent. The grocer walked over and, trying to be friendly, asked the boy if he had a lot of laundry to do. * A company chairman was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert's unfinished Symphony. Since he was unable to go, he passed the invitation to the company's Quality Assurance Manager. The next morning, the chairman asked him how he enjoyed it, and, instead of a few plausible observations, he was handed a memorandum which read as follows; * One night a man - who was in no shape to drive - wisely left his car parked and walked home. As he was walking unsteadily along the road, he was stopped by a policeman. *
"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
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