Can Coalition Forces Avoid a New ‘Battle of Berlin’?

Now here is an unusually refreshing article concerning Iraqi troops strengths and strategies from Christopher Bellamy of the UK Independent, vicariously through Arab News. Of course, what the United States could do in places like Moghadishu in 1993 concerning urban warfare has considerably improved over the past ten years, not to mention the variety of capabilities we have on the books that could be deployed.

Don’t be surprised if the urban warfare part goes much easier than what we are being prepared for. I don’t think we’ve seen the real “shock and awe” part of this campaign yet. By the way, “shock and awe” isn’t another cliche just developed by the Defense Department in order to sell the war, in fact its a codified military doctrine. Check it out.

The British and US plan is to encircle and cut off the city before launching any assault in the urban area. Sooner or later they may have to mix it with Iraqi infantry in the streets. As an experienced commander said on Tuesday, there is a “density problem”. In other words, not enough allied troops. Cities with millions of people absorb soldiers like sponges with millions of holes. The allies had hoped to avoid a Battle of Berlin in Baghdad. Although the Republican Guard largely escaped from the Kuwait theater of operations in 1991, the mauling that their less well trained, equipped and supplied Iraqi Army colleagues suffered at the hands of British and American forces will not have been lost on them.