Comments on: Air Force Anticipates Withdrawal?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:53:06 +0000

Actually, Whig, if we announced a real withdrawal and started it, the only group that would be a problem would be “Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia,” everyone else would wait for us to go and then get back to their civil war.

That puzzles me too, BT. The armor, artillery, and choppers don’t seem to be engaging. I wonder if the desert has claimed them, or they were never deployed in significant numbers. Small artillery is a hell of a lot more effective than an F-16 in an urban environment. Less damage and more accuracy would be definite advantages.

I know the desert is eating engines, and probably rotor blades. They may not be able to repair choppers fast enough to provide support, or they are being used in re-supply because of the problems of keeping the roads clear, but something isn’t right. At some point I think a lot of people are going to be shocked when we learn the real state of the US armed forces.

There have been several incidents of large unit engagements in coordinated raids, but the surge strategy has also been reducing the size of units patrolling and aircraft may be the only way of providing rapid support to units in trouble.

In any case, this isn’t comforting news.

I hear ya’, Annti. I’m not exactly thrilled that the Guard is deployed with a bad hurricane season predicted. This thing needs to be over.

Andante, the officer corps of the Iraqi army is still free. They know how to organize and operate large units. They are taking out bridges to reduce mobility. They can strike and then melt away. They don’t need to form divisions, if they start operating with company level battles, they can cause us real damage as spread out as we currently are.

By: andante

andante — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:58:15 +0000

Given all the different sectarian & tribal differences in Iraq, I have a hard time seeing them come together long enough to switch from guerilla tactics to anything more organized.

Sounds to me like the Air Force is preparing to bomb anything in the withdrawal paths back to the Stone Age.

By: Anntichrist S. Coulter

Anntichrist S. Coulter — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:23:11 +0000

58 days and counting until National Guard niece’s maternity deferment is over and she’s back into the rotation. Her unit’s already over there.

Can’t somebody just finally take out Cheney and Bandar and get this the fuck OVER WITH?!?!?!?!!?

By: Badtux

Badtux — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:34:02 +0000

There is one place where air power can be decisive, and that’s if the situation gets so bad with the morale and equipment of our soldiers that the Iraqis move to open combat rather than guerilla action. In their 1972-1973 campaign the NVA felt that the ARVN was weak enough that an outright invasion would sweep them and their American advisors off the field (the majority of American troops had already been withdrawn). At first it seemed that this might be so, but then massive bombing raids by hundreds of B-52’s turned the tide of battle.

The thing is, when your enemy feels bold enough to switch from guerilla war to straight-up war, that’s a sign that the end is near, no matter how many bombers you mass in-theatre. The fact that the Air Force believes the Iraqis are nearing that point is disquieting, to say the least. It makes me think that the situation with the Army on the ground is far more dire than even the worst predictions I’ve made, as in, do they have any functioning heavy armor and choppers left at all?!

– Badtux the War Penguin

By: whig

whig — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:13:44 +0000

I bet we could negotiate a withdrawal on better terms than we’re going to get trying to make a run for the border under air support.