Sunday, July 20, 2003
ZENPUNDIT BLOWS HIS OWN HORN - IRAQI RESISTERS WITH SOVIET SPETSNAZ TACTICS
General John Abizaid, the new CENTCOM chief confirmed the involvement of Iraqi Special Security Organization troops in the ambush attacks against American troops. SRO involvement was reported here first on July 13.
Iraq's military was essentially built along the Soviet model in doctrine, training and armaments and it is easy to forget given the technological gulf between Iraq and the United States that by the start of the first Gulf War, Iraq possessed a very formidible military force - possibly the best in the third world and superior to anything else in the region except Israel's IDF. The officers who led Iraq's elite divisions - regular army heavy armor, the Republican Guard, the Special Republican Guard and small unit formations of the SRO or other security services- were neither incompetent nor cowardly. SRG units maintained order as they were destroyed by American fire but they did not flee or wave a white flag, recalling the ethic of the Napoleonic era that " ...the guard does not surrender. It dies ".
The Soviets had very specific ideas about the purpose of unconventional special operations against a first class modern military:
"Thus, the primary concern of Soviet strategists and tacticians is to launch low-visibility operations that ensure surprise, induce operational paralysis, and obstruct enemy mobilization and deployment "
Essentially this is the Saddamite strategy in Iraq. For a fuller examination of Soviet doctrine on special operations behind enemy lines ( or against an occupation force) go here.
Presumably, the Pentagon and NATO sometime during the Cold War developed a counter-strategy for dealing with Soviet Spetsnaz and Osnaz troops operating behind our lines in the event of WWIII. It may be time to dust some of those plans off.
¶ 7:31 PM
General John Abizaid, the new CENTCOM chief confirmed the involvement of Iraqi Special Security Organization troops in the ambush attacks against American troops. SRO involvement was reported here first on July 13.
Iraq's military was essentially built along the Soviet model in doctrine, training and armaments and it is easy to forget given the technological gulf between Iraq and the United States that by the start of the first Gulf War, Iraq possessed a very formidible military force - possibly the best in the third world and superior to anything else in the region except Israel's IDF. The officers who led Iraq's elite divisions - regular army heavy armor, the Republican Guard, the Special Republican Guard and small unit formations of the SRO or other security services- were neither incompetent nor cowardly. SRG units maintained order as they were destroyed by American fire but they did not flee or wave a white flag, recalling the ethic of the Napoleonic era that " ...the guard does not surrender. It dies ".
The Soviets had very specific ideas about the purpose of unconventional special operations against a first class modern military:
"Thus, the primary concern of Soviet strategists and tacticians is to launch low-visibility operations that ensure surprise, induce operational paralysis, and obstruct enemy mobilization and deployment "
Essentially this is the Saddamite strategy in Iraq. For a fuller examination of Soviet doctrine on special operations behind enemy lines ( or against an occupation force) go here.
Presumably, the Pentagon and NATO sometime during the Cold War developed a counter-strategy for dealing with Soviet Spetsnaz and Osnaz troops operating behind our lines in the event of WWIII. It may be time to dust some of those plans off.
¶ 7:31 PM
