Why is it that you can get good analysis on debka.com,
this site below but NOT
the mainstream media?
Reading this below and from other articles I have seen America is in trouble, they might not be able to win this war as resistance is growing quickly,
this war could be the end of the american influence in the Middle east. Its failure would turn all of the middle east away from democracy and the
west.
The war is bleaker than the media makes out... welcome to Chechnia....
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The coalition command is extremely concerned with growing resistance movement in the rear of the advancing forces. During a meeting at the coalition
command headquarters it was reported that up to 20 Iraqi reconnaissance units are active behind the coalition rear.
The Iraqis attack lightly armed supply units; they deploy landmines and conduct reconnaissance. Additionally, captured villages have active armed
resistance that is conducting reconnaissance in the interests of the Iraqi command and is organizing attacks against coalition troops.
During the
past 24 hours more than 30 coalition wheeled and armored vehicles have been lost to such attacks. Some 7 coalition servicemen are missing, 3 soldiers
are dead and 10 are wounded.
The coalition commander Gen. Tommy Franks ordered his forces to clear coalition rears from Iraqi diversionary units and partisans in the shortest
possible time. The British side will be responsible for fulfilling these orders.
A unit from the 22nd SAS regiment supported by the US 1st, 5th and 10th Special Operations Groups will carry out this operation. Each of these groups
has up to 12 units numbering 12-15 troops each. All of these units have some Asian or Arabic Americans. The groups also have guides and translators
from among local Iraqi collaborators, who went through rapid training at specialized centers in the Czech Republic and in the UK.
The sand storms turned out to be the main enemy of the American military equipment.
Just the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division had more than 100
vehicles disabled. This is causing serious concern on the part of the coalition command. The repair crews are working around the clock to return all
the disabled equipment back into service. The M1A2 Abrams tanks are not known for the their reliable engines as it is, but in the sand storm
conditions multiple breakdowns became a real problem for the tank crews.
All attempts by the US paratroopers to capture the town of Kirkuk have yielded no result. The Americans counted on the support of the Kurds but
the latter refused to take a direct part in the attack and demanded guarantees from the US command that it will prevent a Turkish invasion. The
Turkish themselves are avoiding making any promises.
Additionally, the situation [at Kirkuk] is affected by the lack of heavy weapons on the part of the US paratroopers. The aviation support alone is
clearly not sufficient. The northern group of forces commander Marine Brig. Gen. Osman has requested artillery and armored vehicles.
All indications are that so far the US is unable to form a combat-capable strike force in this area.
According to satellite reconnaissance it seems likely that the Iraqis had time to remove the captured Apache Longbow attack helicopter of the 11th
Aviation Regiment. The pieces remaining at the landing site following a US bombing strike indicate that the bombs hit a crudely constructed
mockup.
Aerial bombardment of Baghdad has so far failed to produce the expected results.
All targets designated before the war have been hit 3 to 7 times,
but this had almost no effect on the combat readiness of the Iraqi army, their air defenses or the command and control structures.
It seems that during preparation for the war the Iraqis were able to create new, well- protected communication lines and control centers.
There is
plenty of intelligence information indicating that so far the US electronic reconnaissance was unable to locate and to penetrate the Iraqi command's
communication network, which is an indication of the network's high technological sophistication.
A particular point of concern for the US command is the huge overuse of precision- guided munitions and cruise missiles. Already the supply of heavy
cruise missiles like the "Tomahawk" has been reduced by a third and, at the current rate of use,
in three weeks the US will be left only with the
untouchable strategic supply of these missiles.
A similar situation exists with other types of precision-guided munitions. "The rate of their use is incompatible with the obtained results. We are
literally dropping gold into the mud!" said Gen. Richard Mayers during a meeting in Pentagon yesterday morning. [reverse translation from Russian]
The US experts already call this war a "crisis". "It was enough for the enemy to show a little resistance and some creative thinking as our
technological superiority begun to quickly lose all its meaning. Our expenses are not justified by the obtained results.
The enemy is using an order of magnitude cheaper weapons to reach the same goals for which we spend billions on technological whims of the defense
industry!" said Gen. Stanley McCrystal during the same Pentagon meeting. [reverse translation from Russian]
Since the early morning today the coalition high command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are in an online conference joined by the Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld. This meeting immediately follows an earlier meeting last night at the White House.
During the night meeting with President Bush emergency actions were outlined to resolve the standstill in Iraq.
The existing course of actions is
viewed as "ineffective and leading to a crisis". The Secretary of State Collin Powell warned that, if the war in Iraq continues for more than a
month, it might lead to unpredictable consequences in international politics.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Mayers reported on the proposed actions and corrections to the plan of the operation in Iraq.
George Bush demanded that the military breaks the standstill in Iraq and within a week achieves significant military progress.
A particular attention, according to Bush, should be paid to finding and eliminating the top Iraqi political and military leadership. Bush believes
that Saddam Hussein and his closest aides are the cornerstone of the Iraqi defense.
During today's online meeting at the coalition headquarters
Gen. Franks was criticized for inefficient command of his troops and for his inability
to concentrate available forces on the main tasks.
According to [Russian military] intelligence Pentagon made a decision to significantly reinforce the coalition. During the next two weeks up to 50,000
troops and no less than 500 tanks will arrive to the combat area from the US military bases in Germany and Albania. By the end of April 120,000 more
troops and up to 1,200 additional tanks will be sent to support the war against Iraq.
A decision was made to change the way aviation is used in this war. The use of precision-guided munitions will be scaled down and these weapons will
be reserved for attacking only known, confirmed targets.
There will be an increase in the use of conventional high-yield aviation bombs, volume-detonation bombs and incendiary munitions. The USAF command is
ordered to deliver to airbases used against Iraq a two-week supply of aviation bombs of 1-tonn caliber and higher as well as volume- detonation and
incendiary bombs. This means that
Washington is resorting to the "scorched earth" tactics and carpet-bombing campaign.
[Edited on 26-3-2003 by Netchicken]