FOX News Military Analyst: Technology Not Enough to Win in Iraq
Reported by Marie Therese - December 23, 2004
Command Sergeant Major Steve Greer (US Army-Ret) discussed Tuesday's attack in the mess tent in Mosul (12/21/04) with Big Story host John Gibson. At the time of this interview, it was not known (as it is now) that the attack was the result of a suicide bomber. Greer had some interesting things to say about asymmetrical warfare and the limits of technology in urban combat. Gibson, of course, blamed France.
GREER: "In a low intensity conflict environment that we find ourselves in today, our technology, our increased technology, is often negated by this very environment." He went on to note that we have a Patriot system available that could shoot down a Katyusha rocket. However it would not be used because the collateral damage would be too great.
(COMMENT: The Patriot missile system has proven to be one of the most over-hyped and under-performing boondoggles in modern military history. From Wikipedia: "On April 7, 1992 Theodore Postol of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Reuven Pedatzur of Tel Aviv University testified before a House Committee stating that, by their independent analyses, the Patriot system had a success rate of below ten percent, and perhaps even a zero success rate. This was caused by the targeting software of the Patriot, which aimed the missile at the center-of-mass of the target, behind the warhead and also partly because the Scud missiles were so poorly built that they had an extremely erratic flight path and thus were very difficult to intercept. The Scud also often broke apart before impact, making it a more difficult target. A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary quotes the former Israeli Defense Minister as saying the Israeli government was so dissatisfied with the performance of the missile defense, that they were preparing their own military retaliation on Iraq regardless of US objections. That response was canceled only with the cease fire with Iraq. Recent upgrades of the Patriot have supposedly addressed this problem, but critics have noted that there has been no significant testing.")
GREER: "Well, you might very well fire a Patriot system at one of these. These rockets [are] dependent on their trajectory as opposed to a mortar system where the trajectory was very high in altitude, a rocket trajectory is very low, which makes it increasingly more difficult for us to intercept the thing."
Gibson went on to ask "Steve, we say we routed out - rooted out - the terrorists from Fallujah and they're on the run and they have - they don't have the safe operating center like they did in Fallujah anymore, they're movin' around, so they're vulnerable, but they seem to keep gettin' in these attacks. How do we get out and meet this challenge?"
GREER: "What you're talkin' about here is how you win in a counterinsurgency environment. Very difficult." Greer explained that American forces would have to engage in a simultaneous three-pronged approach to the insurgency. First, limit the insurgent options through a focused campaign of offensive operations based on sound intelligence. Second, reduce the insurgents' external support structures, i.e., Syria and Iran. And, third, undercut the cause of the insurgents through civil affairs and civil actions in a constant effort with the legitimate government currently inside of Iraq. He reiterated "Very difficult tasks to do in unison."
Never one to miss an opportunity to badmouth France, Gibson distracts the FOX viewers from the topic at hand - America's bumbling and, in my opinion, criminal incompetence in Iraq - and blames the French.
GIBSON: "Steve while we're talkin' about the losses American forces suffered today, the French got good news. Their two hostages, those two journalists, that have been held for four months, were released. Now, the French aren't sayin' it but would I be wrong to suspect that they paid the terrorists a lot of money to get those two French reporters freed?"
GREER: "I tell you John, that would be my supposition as well. I don't think you're gonna be able to ..."
GIBSON: "And what are they gonna do with that money? Go to Paris and have a good time? Or are they gonna buy some more bomb making equipment?"
GREER: "No, John, that's what I would do. I'd take my wife and go to Paris and have a good time, but you can bet they'll take this money, funnel it right back into the black market and buy weapons and munitions that provide a terrible damage and certainly impact us greatly in the long term of this insurgency."
COMMENT
Zut alors! Those dirty Frenchmen! I wonder why Bush even bothered to invade Iraq when it is so patently clear that FRANCE is our real enemy (as was Canada until they allowed FOX News Channel into their homes on cable). How dare they pay ransom for their journalists! Hey, wait a minute! Maybe they DIDN'T pay ransom. My goodness, even Gibson admits that this is all empty speculation ("Now the French aren't sayin'...") but, quick, quick, I can imagine the Moody memo on this one. Maybe it went something like this: "We need to distract our viewers from the fact that the war is going badly so concentrate on the French or emphasize the attack on Christmas to balance out the depressing war news."
