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thedrifter
03-15-03, 04:11 PM
Mattis: Marines travel lighter, pack same punch

By Ravi Nessman
Associated Press



CAMP MATILDA, Kuwait — Marines might be traveling with less heavy weaponry than in previous wars, but they will be just as effective in a possible invasion of Iraq, a top Marine general in Kuwait said Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., said the development of more accurate bombs and missiles dropped from planes allowed his troops to travel lighter.

In the past, military planners used to talk of how many planes were needed to hit a target. Now they talk of how many targets one plane can hit, he said.

“We are in a time of great change and we’ve adjusted to take that into account,” he said.

Roughly 65,000 Marines are in the Gulf region as part of a total force of about 230,000 U.S. troops.

A possible fight against Iraq could be more difficult than the 1991 Gulf War because there would be so many innocent people on the battlefield, Mattis said.

“When we were here before it was very easy. If there was someone on the battlefield, you shot him,” Mattis said.

This time around, he said, there would likely be tens of thousands of innocent women and children as well as Iraqi troops, who might surrender as some did during the 1991 Gulf War.

“Some of them will not want to fight. They won’t want a rematch with us,” he said.

Mattis, who fought in the previous war here, said the military was already beaming broadcasts into Iraq telling civilians to stay away from possible military targets.

The Marines were also likely to simply go around cities, rather than fight their way through them, Mattis said.

Mattis said his Marines were prepared to move out at any time.

“We can move very, very quickly,” he said. “These boys were brought up in Southern California. They’re fast on the freeway.”

The Marines were using the time now to continue training, Mattis said.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of bored Marines sat on top of their vehicles, as if at a drive-in movie, to watch a rare missile training exercise on the artillery range.

Marines fired six Javelins — optically guided, handheld missiles — at old Iraqi armored vehicles left over from the Gulf War.

Few of the Marines had ever fired the $88,000 missiles before, having practiced only on training programs. Five of the six hit their targets. Whether the sixth hit its target or not, remained in dispute.




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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press


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Roger