The Battle of Baghdad

[GeneralTacticus]

His cousin is dead. The British military and AP just confirmed that Chemical Ali was killed in Basra.

Good riddance

[Kramerman]

From what im gathering, it seems saddam's regime is crumbling... losing Basra... invasion of Baghdad... chemical weapons have been found (cant wait to see the world reaction to that... undoubtedly there will be amny who will say the US planted them there and poisoned our own troops...). The end is near, i hope.

[Ned]

All I can say is that I am glad they chose to boldly move downtown. In retrospect, they could have done this two days ago. The Iraqi's are clearly finished militarily.

We need next to work on capturing Saddam. Hopefully, if we get him, the resistance throughout Iraq will all but end.

This victory will have to rank among the most overwhelming in history, not so because we won, but because we did it so quickly with such economy of force, while minimizing friendly and civilian casualities.

Will the name Tommy Franks rank up their with George Patton?

[GePap]

No, cause the enemy here has been so inept and is so overwhlemingly inferior to begin with, that victory was never in doubt. Patton fought enemy soldiers that were trained and generally equiped as well as his men.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ned
All I can say is that I am glad they chose to boldly move downtown. In retrospect, they could have done this two days ago. The Iraqi's are clearly finished militarily.

All sorts of things can be done in retrospect.

We can't govern an occupied country from AFVs, so there has to be a lot greater extent of passification and disarmament before we can transition from warfighting mode to occupation mode.

The Iraqis have put up even less of a fight (far less of a fight) than they did in GW1. Not a single air sortie, not a single fixed wing aircraft downed by air defenses, so it's a bit hard to sell the idea that this was an imminent threat that needed the 80 billion cleaning treatment.

The Iraqi resistance has been about on a par of what we could expect from Nigeria.

[General Ludd]

Will the name Tommy Franks rank up their with George Patton?

It'd be more like the next Hernando Cortes.


EDIT: Thought it might be a good idea to change it to a conquistador that's a bit better known.

[Andrew1999]

Military Advisor: Commander, our troops have captured Sun Tzu's Art of War!

[GePap]

I think resistance would be worse in nigeria. Maybe as easy in niger, but Nigeria.

And No, Francks won't be anything more than a footnote in history. I mean, look at Schwarzkopff. 12 years later and they have to tell you on TV who he is. Don't expect any movies either.

[Chemical Ollie]

[SIZE=1] Originally posted by Andrew1999
Military Advisor: Commander, our troops have captured Sun Tzu's Art of War!

Commander, our troops have destroyed the Colossus!

[Ned]

The British commander has lavished high praise on Tommy Franks and his war plan, saying it was "brilliant."

[Kontiki]

Which part of the war plan in particular was "brilliant", I wonder. Was it the at least 20-to-1 superiority in equipment and training? A decimated country from decades of mismanagement followed by crippling sanctions? Complete air dominance before a shot was fired? Troops that were actually fed?

I think I could come up with an equally "brilliant" plan of attack if I went to the nearest public school and beat the crap out of a second-grader.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Ned
The British commander has lavished high praise on Tommy Franks and his war plan, saying it was "brilliant."

So was Scwarzkopff's plan, and he won;t be getting a movie either.

How many times do you see Franks on TV? If this war is made into a movie, the guy playing Franks would get second billing.

As I said, the enemy is too inferior, the goal inherently political, not military, and it is all about the Bush, all of which makes for a rather forgatable theater commander, no matter how much currentl priase he gets. What people will be talking about in a few years is how new US weapons, not this plan, made this possible.

[Frogman]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Which part of the war plan in particular was "brilliant", I wonder. Was it the at least 20-to-1 superiority in equipment and training? A decimated country from decades of mismanagement followed by crippling sanctions? Complete air dominance before a shot was fired? Troops that were actually fed?

I think I could come up with an equally "brilliant" plan of attack if I went to the nearest public school and beat the crap out of a second-grader.

Part of being brilliant is how easy you make it look. We took a risk with the early movement of what some said were not enough ground troops. The bee line to Baghdad, securing the oil fields, the targeted attacks, all were well planned and exectued. Sure we kicked them around like second graders, but only because we did a good job.

There is plenty of tough fighting ahead and there will be pockets of resistance for years. This is the part of the plan I'm worried about.

[spiritof1202]

true... anyone can make an opposing force look good. The likelihood was low, but thats a function of 'pre-planning' of the construction of the force, including C3 assets.

[Alexander's Horse]