"American forces in Iraq are in danger of having their line of supply cut by guerrillas. Napoleon once said that "an army travels on its stomach." By that he meant that the problem of keeping an army supplied is the prerequisite for the very existence of the force.
A 21st-century military force "burns up" a tremendous volume of expendable supplies and continuously needs repairs to equipment as well as medical treatment. Without a plentiful and dependable source of fuel, food, and ammunition, a military force falters. First it stops moving, then it begins to starve, and eventually it becomes unable to resist the enemy. " Lang
Do you think William Kristol or Michael Ledeen reads the CSM? Nah.
“Mais, mais, mais nous avons la formule.”
Haven´t seen much echo to this. I don´t think it is by chance that the increase in attacks and the bombing of Lebanon started around the same time.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/feeds/ap/2006/07/20/ap2893080.html
U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Up 40 Percent
The statement by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani came as U.S. military officials reported a 40 percent increase in the daily average of attacks in the Baghdad area.
U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said.
About 1,000 years ago, when I was taking knife fighting a Benning School for Boys I had an instructor who advocated going in low and disabling the legs. He said that if the legs weakened from loss of blood or if you could get a major tendon then you could finish off the rest at your leisure. In the armed forces, the legs are logistics. Disable the logistics train and you can finish off the force at your leisure.
Assuming the south gets cut off are there any alternate routes possible? It doesn’t seem like it to me.
Note also that Turkey is threatening to invade norther Iraq. More evidence that sad Iraq is imploding. The Colonel is right to focus on our supply lines. The house of cards is about to fall.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Turkish Army kills 4 PKK fighters after warning to Washington
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
ANKARA: Turkey’s army killed four Kurdish militants Friday, one day after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned US President George W. Bush that the escalating violence had gone “beyond the limits of tolerance.” The two leaders spoke on the phone Thursday evening, after Ankara threatened a cross-border operation if Washington and Baghdad fail to crack down on bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. The warning followed a series of meetings in Ankara after the PKK’s killing last week of 15 security force members.
Always used to wonder whether the Syria noise wasn’t really about creating a pretext to open a back door out of Iraq, which otherwise resembles a narrow-neck bottle, blocked to the south by people who’d really rather we didn’t.