Non-Subscriber Extract
What next for Iraq?
- Article Tools
| 20 March 2002 |
Contrary to press reports, the Bush administration has not decided yet what type of operation is envisaged against Iraq. Pentagon planners laugh at the force of 250,000 mentioned in the media.
First, today’s wars are not about huge numbers of troops. Even in Afghanistan where the American interest was obvious and public support overwhelming, the Pentagon never authorised the presence of more than 35,000 US troops.
The key to these campaigns is the combination of massive air power and highly mobile but restricted numbers of special forces designed to mop up, quickly and efficiently, what air power alone cannot do.
100 of 873 words