[Fwd: [Marxism] US military situation perilous]

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

The Magazine of Future Warfare
May Issue, 2004

Carlton Meyer editor@xxxxxxxxx

A careful reader of the limited news coming out of Iraq will discover
the US military situation is perilous and a few more bad moves could
send the US Army and Marines retreating back to Kuwait in the
same manner they fled southward 54 years ago in Korea.  That was
when a million Chinese foot soldiers suddenly appeared and attacked
as overextended US forces approached the Chinese border.
American firepower, airpower, and technology was unable to
compensate for the confusion and lack of supplies for American
ground troops.

The main problem in Iraq today is the massive logistics effort
required to sustain US Forces at over a hundred dispersed camps.
Over 95% of supplies arrive by ship, and the closest major seaport
is in Kuwait.  This means everything must be hauled hundreds of
miles over war torn roads among hostile natives.  This is far more
difficult than Vietnam, which had a long coastline where supplies
could be dropped off.  A recent article by Tom Ricks of the
Washington Post noted that most convoys are attacked, and that
soldiers must stop to check each bridge for explosives because
there is not enough manpower to guard them.  Other reporters tell
of recently destroyed bridges, forcing convoys to travel on
secondary roads which doubles their travel time.  In addition,
many civilian truck drivers have refused to drive and many foreign
logistics contractors have left Iraq.

<snip>

Sensational reporting by Arab television networks has aroused
anti-American hatred throughout the Arab world.  The religious
co-leaders of unstable Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa (a law) urging
Muslims to use "all means" to stop what it called "the fierce
onslaught" on Muslims by "occupation forces" in Iraq.  It "urges
every fair person among Muslims and others in the world to
denounce this fierce onslaught and strive by all means to stop it
and punish those responsible for it", said the fatwa, carried by the
Saudi state SPA news agency.  This was not reported by American
media, and the effect is difficult to measure, but worrisome enough
that the US government immediately ordered all non-essential US
citizens to leave Saudi Arabia.  President Bush further infuriated
Arabs by announcing that he would not seek an agreement to end
the Israeli occupation of Arab land, but will support whatever
Israel wants to do.

As a result, Iraq has become a magnet for young, adventurous
jihadists from Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran whose leaders have
begun to openly voice disapproval of the situation.  Iran has a
population of 70 million, compared to 25 million in Iraq.  If one
million armed Iranians slip across the border and attack American
infidels, the US may have to retreat.  Anyone who thinks this is
implausible should read about the US Army's embarrassing retreat
from North Korea in 1950.  Army Generals were extremely
optimistic, dismissive of their enemy,  and thought airpower could
always protect them.  This historical document: Staff Operations:
The X Corps in Korea, December 1950  includes these comments:

"It seemed as if the war was winding to a successful close.  So sure
were Almond and his staff of the enemy's weakness that they thinned
forces across the entire front.  Almond told officers of one regiment:
"We're still attacking and we're going all the way to the Yalu. Don't
let a bunch of Chinese laundrymen stop you."  That regiment was
overrun a few days later, by Chinese laundrymen.

Full:  http://www.g2mil.com/May2004.htm



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