Study Shows Army Trouble in Iraq Invasion

Study Shows Army Trouble in Iraq Invasion
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Army's combat forces performed well during the invasion of Iraq, but the service suffered from problems in supply, intelligence and security of rear areas, a new military study of the invasion suggests.

The report "On Point," released by the Army on Monday, reviews the service's performance during the war up to May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared major combat over.

Written by a retired Army colonel and two active lieutenant colonels, the study provides many specific accounts of battles in the war, from the ambush at Nasiriyah that left Jessica Lynch a prisoner, to some of the 3rd Infantry Division's "thunder run" raids into Baghdad before the city fell.

The report says support units, such as those that manage and move food, fuel and spare parts, had problems. In peacetime, the operations of many of these units had been streamlined to save money; in war, these units had trouble fulfilling their mission.

"Many (support) units struggled to perform their mission due to 'savings' realized in recent changes in organization, equipment, training resources and doctrine," it says.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040524/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_war_army_history&cid=542&ncid=1480

coveted will be accepted in the coming years, simplyh because we are the rulers with the money and with all of the money to allow it.

We the common man, are stuck here in total submission to an evil and stupid man are trying to survive in any way we can, and we watch what an evil, rich man, coming from a rich and connected family, has forced upon us. He is more stupid than we--yet he can jerk us around.

We are paying for it, because he has seen to it that those who are exceptionally wealthy do NOT pay for it.

The entire country has sunk into total and filthy corruption.

We are broken.

It is best to look out for oneself in whatever way one can.

Or a big shot, as the case may be. If Bush wants to offer up Rummy, this would be useful in laying the groundwork, as he was the one who was all for streamlining and privatization of support services.

Interesting use of language - some might say normalizing Nazi terminology:

"The nature of the invasion — a blitz from Kuwait toward Baghdad with little time spent pacifying the area in between..."

...proved a short term succeess versus (at the expense of )a medium and long term disaster.

Uh, wasn't she a patient? Recovered from a HOSPITAL? Where what was left of the staff were doing their level best to keep her alive? After an Iraqi ambulance that tried to bring her back to the American military came under fire?

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin...

Thats sort of the jargony way of putting it.

The thought was there was too much being spent on tail, the supporting and logistics side, and not enough on "tooth", the warfighter.

So this is a real lessons-learned for the army.

Before we get too "political" about this, this was sort of an internal miltiary debate and decision, that actually started up in the Clinton era. I wouldnt blame it too much on Rumsfeld and company, as this has a pedigree going back to the Cohen and Perrry eras.

what the Colonels had to say about our two lead Brigades running low on ammo and fuel during the assault, which forced the "pause that refreshes" and apparently left those two Brigades at serious risk of being cut off.

There is already Doctrine for securing supply lines, that's what Armored Cav units are trained and equipped to do. Unfortunately, we had none available because the Iraqi People were supposed to welcome us with flowers, not RPGs.

The force Gen. Shinseki said was necessary included units like Armored Cav so our forces wouldn't be vulnerable to Iranian disinformation passed through Chalabi.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Rumsfeld hoped and planned only for the best, and apparently never considered the possibility he could be wrong.

Planning only for a "cakewalk" is also what put a Reserve MP unit running a prison it wasn't trained or staffed to run.