Thiago
On 14/4/2003 12:31 AM, "lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org" <lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org> wrote:
> At 10:57 AM 4/13/03 +1000, Thiago Oppermann wrote:
>
>> I agree with you that it would be highly unrealistic to think that the US
>> hasn't got some plans for imposing a nasty law and order regime in Iraq.
>> They do this at home, so why expect any better overseas?
>
> E.g., Notice the joint authorship between military and police and notice
> that the first page contains an infamous photo image from Seattle:
> "Anticipating the Nature of the Next Conflict" by Col. G.I. Wilson USMCR,
> Maj. Frank Bunkers USMCR,
> Sgt John P. Sullivan, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
>
> <http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/doc/anticipating_4gw.doc>
>
> So, yes, I mentioned this quite a long time ago--post N30. Urban warfare
> tactics and planning (officiall called Military Operations in Urban Terrain
> [MOUT]) is big in military research. It's considered the future of warfare
> and a peripheral part of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). But,
> until recently, its best customer has been local police departments and the
> penal system, particularly for equipment and tactics that fall under the
> rubric, "non-lethal weapons": rubber bullets, gas, psychological warfare,
> immobilizing foam, acoustic/optical/electromagnetic weapons, yadda. It
> remains on the periphery, in terms of weaponry. What's of most interest,
> ATM, is people control in MOUT (urban warfare): how to kill/destroy
> who/what you want, without killing/destroying those people and things you
> haven't targeted.
>
> What's going on now is what's called Three Block Warfare: "we can expect to
> be providing humanitarian assistance in one part of the city, conducting
> peacekeeping operations in another and be fighting a lethal mid-intensity
> battle in yet a third part of the city" (Charles C. Krulak, former General,
> USMC--in a 1997 speech to the National Press Club).
>
> Iraq is the test bed--not necessarily for non-lethal weapons that
> immobilize people, but for psychological operations. Look, they're already
> distributing a newspaper and are running Usuk TeeVee ferchrisake! It's not
> clear on what basis one can say they hadn't considered various plans for
> the "day after" --how they planned to rule--given that they immediately
> started broadcasting and, within three days, they had put out a newspaper.
>
> Neither tasks are terribly hard to accomplish, but what, did they smack
> themselves in the head the day the Information Minister failed to show up
> for work and say, "Oh My God! We need a newspaper, radio, and telly! And
> don't forget the Most Wanted Playing Cards for the troops!"
>
> They, of course, want to spread the costs around for the people control
> part of the operation. Going it alone for the initial phases of the Three
> Block War worked out well. Now that Russia, France, and Germany have been
> shown their place in the world-- now that they've been told "no"--they'll
> beg for any bone thrown their way, even if only because they were told "no".
>
> Even better, they are spreading the booty to private firms and NGOs, so
> everyone shares in the spoils of Three Block Warfare. Why be ashamed of the
> military-industrial-social sector perplex? As a u.s. technical writer who'd
> been out of work for nearly a year beforehand said on another list in the
> daze post 9.11, "Well, this will mean jobs for us. They'll need
> documentation, instruction manuals, and procedures."
>
> kelley
>