Peace Through Superior Firepower

"In an election year, dead veterans of the current conflict crawl out of their

graves and stagger single-mindedly to voting booths so they can eject
the president who sent them to fight a war sold on horseshit and elbow grease"

--Joe Dante, veteran and director of veteran-zombie film, Homecoming

I don't want to spoil the party so I'll go,
I would hate my disappointment to show,
There's nothing for me here, so I will disappear

--I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, The Beatles

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This is the actual picture accompanying the story--an unnamed soldier distributing water to an unidentified Iraqi woman.

They are both beautiful, deviating as they do from the typical pictures we see of angry woman and clenched-jaw men. They might both be dead any day now, from the actions of one side or the other. Why is it when it approaches Hollywood's standards, it becomes more tangible?

The story:

"In an otherwise upbeat assessment, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the second-ranking American commander in Iraq, told reporters that leaders of al Qaida in Mesopotamia had been alerted to the Baquba offensive by widespread public discussion of the American plan to clear the city before the attack began. He portrayed the Qaida leaders’ escape as cowardice, saying that 'when the fight comes, they leave,' abandoning 'midlevel' Qaeda leaders and fighters to face the might of American troops — just, he said, as they did in Falluja."

Militants Said to Flee Before U.S. Offensive.

What if you threw a party, and no one came?

Yes indeed--it is cowardly to leave the troops in a lurch, but that is what a DLIC is designed to do. The DLIC is the detachment left in contact, which allows the main body to escape while the DLIC does a DIP (die in place.)

The DLIC is a classic tactic and is trained into U.S. Army doctrine. If this is a cowardly act, then General Douglas MacArthur's Medal of Honor earned at Bataan and Corregidor should be rescinded.

Why? Didn't he escape to Australia, thereby leaving his Army behind to die a slow, cruel demise in the Bataan Death March? Sorry--if we do it, it is heroic; if they do it, it is cowardly.

"American commanders said this week that, more than 30 months after the city was recaptured, Qaida groups have reinfiltrated the city, mounting suicide bombing attacks, assassinating police and city council leaders and forcing a fresh American and Iraqi offensive this month that has been aimed at capturing or killing the Qaeda fighters."

"(W)ith all the additional Army brigades ordered into the war by Mr. Bush now in the field, along with additional Marine units, the commanders here now have more firepower than they have had at any time since the American invasion in 2003."

Delusionally, U.S. leadership thinks firepower is the answer.

Firepower is not the answer in Iraq, or anywhere else in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT). This is not a classic war scenario where decisive combat power will tip the equation.

Firepower is not the answer today, unless one finds oneself completely surrounded by zombies in a horror flick. And even then, it is not a slam-dunk.

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In a picky postscript, the Times ends the article with the following:

"I.E.D., or improvised explosive device, is military jargon for a homemade bomb."

Technically, an IED does not need to be homemade. It could be a 60/81 mm/4.2"/105/155/8", 175 mm., 500 lb. aerial bomb shell rigged to explode in an unintended manner, utilizing an expedient means of detonation. It is the utilization which is improvised.

In fact, there used to be a field manual entitled, "Improvised Munitions," utilized by SOF types in the 60's-80's. In reality, what we are now calling IED's are actually improvised munitions. The usage of IED has been adopted since most of the earlier groups did actually use IED's or homemade bombs. Times have changed.

The NYT should hire a Ranger as a military consultant; that would clear up their fog of war.