[Colin Glassey] Welcome InstaPundit Readers - More Analysis
Some additional analysis of the Iraq war of 2003. As we have come to expect, United States soldiers performed as befits the finest army in the world. 20 years ago, the U.S. army was not rated so highly. In the first edition of James Dunnigan's book How to Make War he gave numerical ratings to various armed forces of nations. Back in 1985, Dunnigan did not rate the United States as the best army. Dunnigan may have been wrong even in 1985. I think its been obvious since the Gulf War of 1991 that the U.S. Army is the best, and it has improved in the intervening years.
Gold Stars to the men and women of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized). The 3ID has added to its proud divisional history in this war. The drive from Kuwait through the Karbala gap and into Bagdad Airport will be studied for many years to come as a texbook example of a perfect attack.
Gold Stars to the Marines, driving their Amphibious assault vehicles all the way to Bagdad through several strongly defended towns. The soldiers of the 1st MEF (Marine Expiditionary Force) have lived up to their impressive history as Marines.
Although the U.S. has not revealed many details, the U.S. Special Forces seem to have gotten the job done in the desert of Western Iraq and in the Northern Kurdish area, though the Northern Front is still a scene of serious fighting. The Special Forces proved their worth in Afghanistan. With good air support, the Special Forces can accomplish seemingly impossible missions considering the tiny number of men in their units (12).
It seems as though the British Army is working a new tactic for taking over a large city. Steve Den Beste has a essay in which he argues that the attack on Basra is not a siege but instead something new. I think he is right. I salute the British Army for their innovative tactics. They certainly seem to have done a great deal of damage to the defenders of Basra while leaving the town and civilian population largely unscathed.
I agree with Mark Steyn's article in which he says the big news was the Iraqi military failed to do much of anything. The various divisions of the Iraqi army pretty much stayed in place, except for some internal movement last week (from Tikrit south to Bagdad). The fact that Iraqi army essentially stayed in their positions for the duration of the war doomed them.
There really was a possible counter to the U.S. attack. I don't think it is quite safe to discuss it openly now. Even if the Iraqi mobile divisions had tried the tactic, it would likely have failed. But so far as I can tell, the Iraqi army tried nothing. If Saddam wasn't killed in the first attack on March 19, either he failed to issue any orders in the following days, or his orders never made it to the mobile divisions.
8:26:08 PM 
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