The War We War, Part

The War We War, Part II - Ralph Peters in the NYPost about the conduct of the war. The money quote? This bit, about the "New Stalingrad" fervor in the media:

Once our forces are ringing Baghdad, Saddam isn't going anywhere. There's no deadline on giving that bad boy the big Indian rub. If necessary - if the regime doesn't implode beforehand - the world is going to witness the first post-modern siege.

Historically, sieges could last over a year, while the population inside the city starved and died of plague. Not our style. We haven't even turned off the lights or shut off the water in Baghdad yet, and we may not do so in the future, except for limited periods and purposes.

Once the last die-hard Saddamites are corralled in Baghdad (and, perhaps, in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, a city that just brings out the nuclear side of my character), we're going to work 'em like history's biggest cat batting around a blind, three-legged mouse.

And what is Saddam going to do about it? We can even send in food supplies, if the population needs to be fed. Let even our enemies eat as they wait to be killed. Saddam's birthday is coming up in April. I'll pay for the cake and FedEx it myself.

Meanwhile, our national intelligence assets will be focused on one city. Saddam had better renew his subscription to "Bunker Living," because he's not coming out to play stickball. Allied special operations forces - already in Baghdad - will be prowling the hallways and alleys, taking direct action against the regime's remaining supporters, collecting information for precision strikes and working with the growing Iraqi resistance.

When the right opportunities present themselves, our forces will swoop in on pinpoint raids. And no, we're not talking about "Black Hawk Down II." Anyway, people tend to forget that, in Mogadishu, we actually won the tactical battle overwhelmingly - 20 dead Americans, a thousand dead Somali militiamen.

And he tosses in this key part, which everyone needs to remember:

Why on earth would Gen. Tommy Franks do exactly what Saddam wants, and send our forces charging into the streets of Baghdad?

We're not stupid - or Russian - for God's sake. We're not going to slug down a couple of bottles of vodka apiece and drive straight into Grozniy while Chechens pick off our tanks and troops at their leisure.

We are going to make the rules in Baghdad, not Saddam.

That's not only the most important quote of the piece - it's the most important lesson the US military learned in the last thirty years; never let the enemy pick the terms of th battle. You hear the embedded media using this scrap of military jargon, without quite understanding it: "Shaping the Battlefield". It means exactly that - using your mobility to pick the battlefield, and your firepower (especially air and helicopter) to drive the enemy into the position you want.

Posted by Mitch at March 25, 2003 08:05 AM