Analysis – A few thoughts of my own.
The non-story so far is that Israel has not been attacked by SCUDs fired from Iraq, thus keeping Israel out of the war. This means the special forces are being very successful in western Iraq.
The worst story so far is Turkey not letting the 4th Infantry Division in to open the Northern Front. US troops need to be inserted as a buffer between the Turks and the Kurds and the northern oil fields near Kirkuk need to be taken.
The biggest question so far is where are the 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne divisions? My guess is that some of these units are being sent to the north of Iraq to open the Northern Front. Quite possibly some of them may be inserted behind the Republican Guard troops outside Baghdad to surround them completely. We should learn the position of these units soon.
Now back to the news???
Background – Strategy – Thomas Ricks critiques the war plan so far.
- Washington Post: U.S. Casualties Expose Risks, Raise Doubts About Strategy
Background – Strategy – William Arkin comments on the war plan.
- Los Angeles Times: A War of Subtle Strategy
US Navy – How the Navy is trying to capture oral histories of participants in the war.
- Washington Post: In the Service of History
US Marines – Inside the Marine Combat Operations Center.
- Washington Post: War Planning Is Work in Progress
US Marines – The logistic challenges facing the Marines.
- Washington Post: Fuel is Limiting Factor in Rush Toward Baghdad
US Navy – A combat mission over Iraq with pilots from the USS Abraham Lincoln.
- Washington Post: Target Practice Of a Different Sort
US Marines – With the Marines of Task Force Tarawa.
- Virginian Pilot: Lejeune Marines greeted by waving kids, surrendering Iraqis
Indonesian Navy – Indonesia is building a new naval base in western Paupua.
- Agence France Presse: Indonesian navy to build second base in west of Papua province
US Coast Guard – Modernization of the Coast Guardís C4ISR systems is a critical element of the Deepwater acquisition strategy.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 