US Army plans invasion of Azerbaijan

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/07/tradoc-uses-a-s.html

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When the Army was firming up plans for its force of the future, it needed to invade and occupy a country in its war games, to model how all the new tanks, robots, and fighting vehicles might perform. That country, oddly enough, was Azerbaijan.

Observers give different reasons for why Azerbaijan was picked for the simulated invasion. Some say the country's varied terrain provided an excellent testing ground for the Army's $200 billion "Future Combat Systems." Others believe that the U.S. "now faces a new reality embodied in the Caspian Sea scenario," centered in Azerbaijan. No one suggests that the country is in any imminent danger of American attack.
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Maybe it's just the cynic in me; but perhaps a better use of taxpayer money might be to try to find a way out of the quagmire we're in? Can't we finish what we're doing now and get the hell out before we start planning future invasion?

It's all about the Oil.

I mean we should do both; you don't stop research just because you are in a war; the two should be treated differently. Or to put it in another context, you wouldn't stop researching new products just because its' time to market the latest product.

OF course with this gang, I find myself looking for ulterior motives.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

to the planning process.

You need to develop future scenarios to determine what you're going to spend your money on before you're called upon to execute the mission.

And yes, taxpayer money needs to be spent on figuring out how to extract our head from the hornets' nest Bush shoved it into. We need to do both.

Besides, there's a whole shitload of hydrocarbons in Azerbaijan and the Caspian region generally -- not to mention some key pipelines and pipeline routes. It would be irresponsible of the military not to keep such things in mind.

If there's a general staff anywhere on the planet that isn't spending at least some of its time planning out what their military would do in situations A, B, C, etc. through ZZ, they're not doing their job. NATO wargamed an invasion and occupation of Nova Scotia this past month as a training exercise. Doesn't mean they're going to do it.

There's a reason I usually just shrug if I hear that one country's "making plans" to attack another - it's something every one of them with a military capable of projection does all the time. The US has plans about what to do in a war with Iran, Azerbaijan, India, Russia, Canada, Zimbabwe and I'm certain they haven't forgotten Poland. I'd be surprised if any of those countries (okay, Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe aside) didn't have plans for armed conflicts with each of the others.

it's nice to know the troops used the simulated real target for their War Games.


It saves retraining them.