[A-List] US imperialism: Iraq

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

US troops 'ill-trained' for Baghdad street-fighting
IAN BRUCE
The Herald, 3 October 2002

US troops who may be ordered to capture Baghdad in the next few months
are insufficiently trained for the bloody chaos of city street-fighting,
or dealing with nerve gas or germ agents, according to Pentagon sources.

Only a fraction of training time is spent teaching soldiers and
commanders how to operate in the restricted, confusing and inevitably
lethal environment of house-to-house combat and it could be 10 years
before units are "up to speed" on urban battle techniques.

The US Department of Defence has now launched a study into urban warfare
tactics which could involve troops using miniature robot spy planes and
tracked robot scouts to probe enemy-held areas.

General William Kernan, head of the US joint forces command, said
yesterday: "Fighting in a city is probably the most complex environment
for military operations. It has been compared to a knife-fight in a
telephone booth. Casualties in the average rifle company can run as high
as 30%.

"It is vastly complicated by the presence of civilians and the need to
minimise casualties among them and it is a potential nightmare when
trying to avoid friendly fire incidents. Hi-tech superiority counts for
little when every house is a potential strongpoint.

"The chaos experienced by US Rangers and Delta Force troopers in the
warren of alleys in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 is typical. It is easy
to become lost, sniper fire can come from any window or doorway, and
exercising control is next to impossible."

The US lost 18 men killed in a running street battle against Somali
militiamen and several helicopters were shot down or damaged as they
tried to extract trapped and wounded soldiers.

On using robots, Captain Tom Johnston, who heads a team studying the
problems, said: "We have the capacity to 'own the city' in much the same
way as we already own the night and own the skies through the
application of cutting-edge technology." But he admitted it "could be a
decade before all the pieces come together".

The Israeli army already uses robot drones to spot sniper positions and
to pick out key buildings to be occupied.

The US army says it would take four to five weeks to teach the average
infantry battalion to cope with street fighting, and refresher training
would then have to be carried out every 30 days.

Pentagon investigators have also admitted that many soldiers who might
have to spearhead an assault into Iraq have insufficient training to
cope with an environment contaminated by nerve gas or germ agents.

Although the US Marine Corps spends time teaching its riflemen to use
protective suits and fight in a lethally-polluted atmosphere, the army
has dedicated less prominence to this form of combat since the end of
the Cold War.

Analysts think Saddam Hussein would turn several major cities into
fortresses and use chemical and biological weapons to inflict maximum
casualties on a US-led invasion force.

All British service personnel are given regular training in the use of
protective "Noddy suits" and decontamination procedures in the event of
exposure to nerve and germ agents.