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April 04, 2003
Airport Armor Fight
At this hour, CNN's Walt Rodgers is reporting live on continual fighting "near" the airport at Baghdad. This video-phone report includes the same APC and tank that have been burning near his position for at least four hours. He reports that at least sixteen Iraqi armored vehicles have been destroyed, as the Iraqis repeatedly mount scattered counter-attacks, which also include small-arms and RPG attack. Apache Troop of the 7th Cavalry has had no casualties that Rodgers is aware of. It's very interesting to watch this, even though it's the "drinking-straw" view: one sees only a tiny spot of the fight at any given moment and can never gather it all into an image. However, the concept of the thing can be very vivid if one knows what to think about, like what sort of area that M1A1 tank might command from its position on the curve of the road as it looks out into the palm trees at a distance of perhaps a quarter-mile. A trooper just crawled about on top of the turret, so there must have been at least a moment of relative security that he could sense in order to do whatever he needed to do. This is going on in broad, bright daylight, on a divided highway of the sort that anyone might expect to drive en route to an airport, anywhere. I've been watching it for about a half hour, now, and there hasn't been any shooting or a great deal of movement in that time. However, Rodgers reports that it's been a "running fight" and one never knows when the next enemy armored vehicle is going to roll up for its shot at the big time. The Iraqis are fighting. It's just that they appear to be dying in droves while they're at it. Comments
Good luck Iraq. Save your lives and just fricking give up. Posted by: Dirk at April 4, 2003 02:12 AMThis kind of low risk real training is so valuable. One reason, I think, countries like Russia and China are upset about us going in to Iraq is that they hate to think that we will scores of officers who have battle experience. You just can't get that by simulated training. Posted by: Ray at April 4, 2003 02:32 AMI think they are also very frustrated to see their best tactics and equipment completly unable to even slow us down. Soviet equipment (T-72s), anti-tank missiles (Kornet) and tactics, Chinese Air Defense (Tiger Song), French communications and radar - None of it has had any effect. Add to that the effectiveness of US weaponry (What chance do their old model aircraft have against Patriot? That even threatens their last-line of force - nukes), targeting and sensing systems, and training and you've got some horrified military structures all over the world. Orion Posted by: Orion at April 4, 2003 02:42 AMAt the end of the first Gulf War, there were many foreign analysts who concluded that we had scored a devastating victory (which we had) and concluded that the American Army of '91 was the one to beat. What upset quite a few was that that Army (and Air Force) was nowhere to be seen in Kosovo ('99)---utterly replaced by a different armed force. By Afghanistan (2001), the '99 military had metamorphosed again, only to change further in '03, here in Iraq. The constant American military evolution almost certainly is one thing that is leaving quite a few militaries bewildered.... Posted by: Dean at April 4, 2003 02:46 AMThe thing few people seem to realize (or accept?) is that military doctrine in America has evolved far faster than in other countries (if at all, one should add, e.g. spit*France*spit). The American military takes the situation and enemy into account to build a plan and adapts it to changing circumstances. Superior technology is only effective with superior training, individuals, team spirit, logistics, intelligence, leadership, and spirit. Think of the Ancient Greeks who repeatedly defeated million-man Persian armies with a few thousand soldiers. Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) at April 4, 2003 03:04 AMSide thought: I was sure sold with the arguments about replacing the M1A2 with a lighter faster, but less armored MBT, but now I have to reconsider that argument. One soldier said when a M1A2 pulls up it's a big motivator to surrender. I know I was scared of them facing them in training. I would like to see the numbers of Iraqi tank kills with Bradley's compared to M1A2's. Posted by: Ray at April 4, 2003 03:05 AMPost a comment
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