With one British soldier in Iraq for roughly every six Americans, has Britain's force of crack units made a significant difference in a war that the United States could have fought alone?
I think they have done an outstanding job.
Emphatically yes, according to officials and experts, who said Tuesday that British forces had been putting their own stamp on the campaign - largely thanks to their special abilities in urban warfare after decades of guerrilla warfare and pacification efforts in Northern Ireland that instilled tactics and sharpened reflexes useful in Iraq.
There is no doubt that the British have learned lots of valuable tactics and techniques from fighting in Ireland.
"The British occupation of Basra was the pilot project for the U.S. assault on Baghdad, using tank and armor thrusts to get control of a city without taking it apart house by house," according to an aide to the U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
His comments amounted to a rare acknowledgment in Washington that U.S. allies - at least the British - can still be a military asset on a battlefield dominated by the U.S. forces' capabilities to harness technology behind devastating air and ground firepower.
A few weeks ago when it became certain there was going to be conflict, through the Hussein Regime's actions, it was spoken about...the taking of Baghdad. Something very interesting was spoken about. Saddam Hussein fancies himself a modern day Stalin. It fits, he's a butcher, more on task with this discussion, he designed Baghdad to be controlled, for the People to be controlled, by Armor. Very Soviet in thinking and execution, how to put down dissidents should that become a necessity. So I don't think it fair or accurate to think for a moment that this plan of using Armor was dreamed up quickly. And that is not taking anything away from the Brits who are incredibly skilled at Counterinsurgency - Counter-terrorist Operations.
In fact, back in the 60s, a young American Green Beret Officer was involved in an exchange program with the British SAS. That young Officer became the Father of U.S. Army Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. Delta Force. Col. Charles Beckwith patterned Delta after the SAS and the SAS has been a major influence (and I do mean major) on GSG9 and GIGN as well. So, the Brits have alot to offer through practical experience.
And that experience is incredibly interested between The Gulf War with General Norman Schwarzkopf then and General Tommy Franks now. Gen. Schwarzkopf was a much more conventional General, he did not particularly like or appreciate Special Operations Forces. But they even impressed him at the end of the day. This war is a whole new ballgame with General Tommy Franks who does not hesitate to fully and properly utilize Special Operations Personnel to great effect on the enemy.
An incident last week in which U.S. troops killed Iraqi women and children in a car at a checkpoint, reportedly without warning shots or strong signals from soldiers standing in the road, has been laid to poor training for American soldiers in the quasi-peacekeeping mission in Iraq.
I think that is an extremely poor characterization of what happened. They did what they had to do in the face of an enemy that will do anything to cause casualties.
British forces are credited with a better set of nerves and techniques than Americans in trying to win the confidence of local civilians. The combat ethos of American troops, and their stern rules about "force protection" designed to protect their comrades from attacks by snipers and saboteurs, casts them, in the eyes of local civilians, as haughty conquerors.
It drifts to petty attaboys and backslapping at this point and it becomes clear that pride is overshadowing common sense in this article. It's pretty clear, especially from today's events, that U.S. Forces are not seen as "haughty conquerors." Even with the American Flag incident today with Saddam's (haughty) statue, the crowd cheered with the placing of the American Flag on the face of that statue.
Britain's reputation for tough underground warfare was confirmed at the outset of the Iraq campaign when one of their elite units, the Special Boat Service, slipped ashore the night before the Iraq assault started and infiltrated the Rumaila oil field in time to prevent the wells from being torched by Iraqi soldiers.
Yes indeed, goes back to General Franks as well, utilizing Special Operations in the most effective manner, including U.S. SEAL Teams, this also runs to the effective employment of Snipers by both British and American Forces. Special Operations Personnel deployed in that effect manner prevented the dreaded oil rig fires and demolition of bridges, etc.
For the same reason, the British Army has banned Rambo-style sunglasses of the sort favored by intimidating U.S. state troopers.
Please. Oakleys and Gargoyles save eyes.
We have been rethinking Military Operations in Urban(ized) Terrain, MOUT, for two decades. Mogadishu taught alot of horrible lessons as well, but since we don't have Clinton playing ball, this won't be another Mogadishu, even if a sillyassed Columbia University Professor wants one million of them happening in Iraq.
