Ever the good soldier, even facing civil disaster.

Stolen from talkingpointsmemo.com, a very interesting article. Seems Gen. Abizaid done wrote the book on this.

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It seems that almost everyone here believes we’re sitting on a precipice, and leaning precariously toward civil disaster. But it didn’t have to happen this way.

A year ago, American General John Abizaid published an internal Defense Department book about urban warfare. Abizaid’s “Doctrine for Joint Urban Operations” (see sidebar) was all but ignored by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, who ran the Iraq war and the initial postwar occupation.

Abizaid wrote about the massive troop requirements for urban warfare; warned of rapid burnout of soldiers and equipment assigned to urban battlegrounds; and time and again referenced catastrophic instances of over-confidence and under-preparedness among commanders and of disastrous misunderstandings of local cultures and their motivations. He also stressed how “essential” it is that “law enforcement” and other “routine activities” be “returned to civilian agencies as quickly as possible.”

Abizaid was brought in a month ago to clean up the mess created by Franks and Rumsfeld. But it might be too late.

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http://www.rcreader.com/display_article.php3?index=1&artid=1488

This article also has interesting info on life and factions in Iraq.
God Bless Josh Marshall.

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Rampant rape, kidnapping, car-jackings, and murder have imprisoned most Iraqi women within their own homes. The rapid rise of Islamic fundamentalism, which strongly discourages women from appearing in public without a male escort, has also frightened women into staying out of sight. Understandably, Christian women, discriminated against for hundreds of years, are doubly scared.

“There is no security,” the teenaged Fadia said, an anxious look on her face, which by now was free of tears but filled with frustration. “We cannot go out.” Instead, she and her sisters sit in their house, which boils several hours a day when the electricity goes out.

“Security,” or rather, the lack of it, is all anyone wants to talk about in Iraq these days. Westerners and wealthy Iraqis cower inside five-star hotels protected by razor wire and American tanks, and warn each other against walking alone – even up the block to buy a pack of cigarettes.

The American occupational government, the Coalition Provisional Authority, has barricaded itself behind layers upon layers of intense security, completely isolating itself from the Iraqi people and just about everyone else.

The U.S. military is so freaked out that it recently shut down a main Baghdad thoroughfare in front of a hotel occupied by soldiers, forcing Iraqi motorists to detour around through a narrow side street and jamming traffic for blocks.

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from “Doctrine for Joint Urban Operations,” by U.S. General John Abizaid, published by the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, September 2002:

• Urban operations result in a significant increase in ammunition expenditure, need for personnel replacements, medical personnel and supplies, casualty evacuation, and food and water. ... Commanders and planners must make every effort to anticipate and specifically plan for these resources.

• Forces will need reconstitution more frequently. ... Historically, it is necessary to pull units back for rest and reconstitution far more frequently in urban combat than in other types of operations. ... When that is coupled with the high casualty rates normally associated with urban combat, the problem of reconstitution becomes a serious one, requiring foresight and prior planning and preparation.

• Urban combat is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting, and the psychological effects on all participants (including health-care personnel) can be devastating.

• Seven factors that have historically led to the commission of war crimes: (1) high friendly losses; (2) high turnover rate in the chain of command; (3) dehumanization of the adversary; (4) poorly trained or inexperienced troops; (5) the lack of a clearly defined adversary; (6) unclear orders; and (7) high frustration level among the troops.

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