29.3.04
Stryke one
Iraq, as a weapons testing laboratory? Maybe the wheeled vehicle craze isn't such a good idea after all. I think that it is an interesting insertion point for the stryker. Note that this model has an ugly looking improvised protective screen around it - that was designed to further protect it from RPGs after people realized the stock model wasnt going to do the job. It still doesnt do the trick - this stryker was hit with one RPG. The attack occured in or around Mosul, no word on casualties as of yet. The choice of Iraq as the testbed for these vehicles will be a real trial by fire, but that fits in with the Iraq as a testing laboratory idea, doesn't it?
Of course, I also should point out that we told you so. Anyway, its not that we have any particular foresight on these military matters, we just apply basic intelligence. And the real failing of the US current military minds is not these little strategic gaffes that we point out, it is not that the US needs a lighter faster force or a tougher, more armored force, its not a question of strykers vs. bradleys, or this vehicle or weapons system vs that other one. The US fails on a much larger scale, in the belief that the military can carry out a task that no military has EVER been able to successfullly complete -- pacification. All this focus on "urban warfare" is a joke, and its not something the military can do, it serves only as a poor euphemism for military occupation and failure.
Iraq, as a weapons testing laboratory? Maybe the wheeled vehicle craze isn't such a good idea after all. I think that it is an interesting insertion point for the stryker. Note that this model has an ugly looking improvised protective screen around it - that was designed to further protect it from RPGs after people realized the stock model wasnt going to do the job. It still doesnt do the trick - this stryker was hit with one RPG. The attack occured in or around Mosul, no word on casualties as of yet. The choice of Iraq as the testbed for these vehicles will be a real trial by fire, but that fits in with the Iraq as a testing laboratory idea, doesn't it?
Of course, I also should point out that we told you so. Anyway, its not that we have any particular foresight on these military matters, we just apply basic intelligence. And the real failing of the US current military minds is not these little strategic gaffes that we point out, it is not that the US needs a lighter faster force or a tougher, more armored force, its not a question of strykers vs. bradleys, or this vehicle or weapons system vs that other one. The US fails on a much larger scale, in the belief that the military can carry out a task that no military has EVER been able to successfullly complete -- pacification. All this focus on "urban warfare" is a joke, and its not something the military can do, it serves only as a poor euphemism for military occupation and failure.
