Aerial Bombardment of Iran would Eclipse 'Shock and Awe' of 2003

On 26 Oct 2006 08:12:11 -0700, "Jack Linthicum"
wrote:


Ed Rasimus wrote:
On 25 Oct 2006 20:15:33 -0700, "WaltBJ"
wrote:

"Shock and Awe" - I read the original paper, and all I can say is that
instead of S and A all that is accomplished is to really PO the
recipient and make him lock and load or, if he doesn't have a gun
handy, to hone his knife to a very sharp edge. One would hope that
someone at a decision-making level would read some history to see that
S and A has never worked. Well, maybe Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but let's
not go there.
Walt BJ

You must have been watching a different channel.

I watched the fixed camera that was usually displayed on CNN, FOX,
MSNBC and others, at the Iraqi Ministry of Information. It showed the
street in front of the building and swapped with one that showed a
main downtown intersection and parkway.

During the raids, the traffic lights continued to operate, traffic
flowed and life went on as usual for the working citizens. Movement
into and out of the parking garage across the street from the ministry
continued. IOW, the innocent citizenry was not targeted.

Also seen was the intense AAA and missile fire, apparently discharged
at random, with little apparent effect. What goes up, must come down.
Random damage from expended flak and missiles is inevitable in those
situation.

Targeting was of military installations, C3I facilities and Sadaam's
palaces/headquarters. Places like Republican Guards Hq, main
thoroughfare bridges, military supply dumps, communications facilities
and missile batteries were hit with PGMs and generally without
collateral damage. Target servicing rates were high, coalition losses
were low and Pk was incredible compared to earlier conflicts with
which both you and I, Walt are familiar.

I wasn't particularly shocked, but I sure was awed.

It was definitely not a carpet bombing campaign. It was counter-force,
not counter-value. It was precise and although there is no doubt that
innocents died, it was well focussed. It was also well observed by
media which is not necessarily favorable to the operation.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Please describe the effects of this event, did anyone surrender?

The initiation of ground operations came much more quickly than in
Desert Storm (remember that air campaign too 100 days.) When started,
coalition forces rolled almost unopposed to Basra, Baghdad and Tikrit.
The Republican Guard apparently fled and command/control of defending
units was apparently non-existant. Seems pretty effective militarily
to me.

Did
the populace flee in the streets seeking shelter?

You apparently didn't get the point of what I posted. The populace
quite apparently did not feel any need to flee the streets seeking
shelter. They appeared on the major news networks to be confident that
they were NOT the targets.

Did any of the
"bunker busters" bunk a buster?

Did JADMs and LGBs hit their targets? Absolutely. Did aircrews die in
the process? No. Did the regime topple? Yes. Is much of this related
to the relationship between Sunnis and Shi'a? No.

Were any of the "precision targets"
actually targets, or just guesses based on those people who were
waiting with the flowers?

Are you dense or simply indoctrinated? Is a highway bridge a "guess"?
Is an air defense Hq a legitimate target? How about an armor
marshalling area? Republican Guard barracks?

Satellite, ELINT, HumINT, Comm intercepts, lots of over-flights, etc.
equal pretty good intel for a campaign.

But, that doesn't fit your scenario does it?


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com