War with Iraq
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War Plans for War with Iraq
March 2003
The general plan for attacking Iraq involves psychological warfare, which has been going on for most of 2002, to demoralize the military and civilian leadership and convince most to switch sides before the fighting begins. Iraqi exiles have been organized to form a post invasion government, and the younger ones trained to work directly with coalition
troops as translators, scouts and negotiators.
The military invasion would begin with thousands of smart bombs being dropped on anti-aircraft, air force and headquarters targets.
GPS guided JDAM and JSOW smart bombs allow this to be done in any weather and,
perhaps equally important, simultaneously. All those bombs hitting in a short
period of time (minutes, in some cases) enhances the psychological effect.
Simultaneous strikes also increase enemy casualties, as there is less warning to
take cover. US heavy bombers (B-1, B-2 and B-52) can carry up to 24 one ton
bombs each. While this is still going on, coalition ground forces would start entering southern, northern and western Iraq. Some would come in via helicopter,
especially against isolated airfields and bases in western Iraq. Some
paratroopers would be dropped on more distant targets. British and
American marines and armor units could quickly advance on southern Iraq's major
city, Basra. The Turks have been told not to enter northern Iraq, as the Kurds
there have said they would fight any Turks coming in. The Kurdish militias in
the north have placed themselves under American command. There are US Special
Forces in northern Iraq to work with the Kurds, Turkomen and other minorities up
there.
Western Iraq is mostly desert, where coalition Special Forces and commandos
have apparently been operating since late February.
The advance towards Baghdad would be up the Tigris-Euphrates valley, which is
where most Iraqis live. Deals, some already in the works since 2002, to get Iraqi tribal, political and military leaders and groups to switch sides would be brought to a conclusion as coalition tanks moved to, and into, Baghdad.
If there is any significant resistance in Baghdad, special street fighting
equipment has been brought into Kuwait and thousands of American troops have
undergone intensive city fighting training.
The US Special Forces will play a crucial role in the campaign, since they
have the skills, and in some cases, contacts, to work with the various armed
factions in Iraq. There are armed and militant Shia groups that could get
feisty. While the Kurdish militias are well organized, there are other groups
with a militia tradition (the Assyrians and Turkomen) are not. The Special
Forces will be doing most of the talking with these groups in order to keep the
peace.
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