thedrifter
03-22-03, 07:10 AM
"The Voice of the Grunt"
03-21-2003
Iraqi WMD: So Far So Good
By Eric Taylor
Right now, we are focused on our forces as they advance from Kuwait into and through southern Iraq on their drive toward Baghdad. At this writing, our only reported casualties appear to be from a helicopter crash and two direct combat deaths.
The restraint exhibited by the U.S. National Command Authority in withholding our massive airpower from pulverizing Iraq may well be a wise political move as well as a military one. We avoid the likely collateral damage – both physical and in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people – and conserve very sophisticated ammunition for future pressing needs as well.
However, during the first several hours following the end of the ultimatum deadline declared by President Bush, our forces have been compelled on many occasions to “MOPP up” in response to various missile attacks and false alarms by Iraq. The concern prompting these “MOPP up’s,” of course, was the potential that those warheads may have been armed with chemical or biological agents. Thus far, we seem to have been spared that complication to what presently seems to be a smoothly unfolding and running operation.
It is a relief – but also a little perplexing – that we have not yet seen any significant attempt by Iraqi units to resist our incursion into their homeland. We all hope and pray that that continues for both us and the Iraqi people. The less damage of real property Iraq bears from this war of liberation, the better for them, and the less chaotic the rebuilding of a more humane Iraq will be after the shooting finally stops.
At the moment there is no word on the stocks of chem-bio weaponry Saddam has spent the last 12 years amassing, hiding and denying he possesses. So where is it? Why hasn't it been used at the outset?
Some political observers have voiced the theory that perhaps the Iraqi leadership is planning an operation that will unfold upon the arrival of our forces at the outskirts of Baghdad. A last stand effort would benefit from chem-bio use as around Baghdad, our forces are converging and becoming more concentrated than they currently are in the move on that target city.
As our forces move to encircle Baghdad, they will find themselves in a somewhat static standing, siege-style formation, making them a classic target for chem-bio attack. While they are currently moving, any such attack would be essentially ineffective as our forces would simply continue moving through or bypass the contamination area.
But the time is quickly coming when our forces will find themselves vulnerable to an Iraqi WMD attack.
Some TV “experts” on this subject have made it a point to shout the readiness of our forces to defend against chem-bio attacks. They continuously assure the American public that we have the best NBC equipment and training of any army of the world – although at the same time, news media reports reveal that the U.S. Marine Corps units are carrying caged pigeons as early warning devices for chemical agent detection.
This raises an obvious question: If our equipment, which certainly includes the latest in chemical agent detection and monitoring, is so reliable and flawless, why are pigeons necessary? Pigeons are a detection technology from World War I.
Nevertheless, if this technique does work, it will become the latest example of the Marine credo: adapt, improvise, survive. It also confirms the need for the U.S. military to continue to work hard on improving NBC defensive equipment and training, even if our men and women do not come under a chem-bio attack in Iraq.
Keep in mind that as serious as this show now is, it may ultimately end up as a side show. Assuming we can wrap up the military component of Iraqi liberation, we still have to deal with North Korea.
Like Iraq, North Korea covets chem-bio weapons as much as nukes. North Korea may well become a terrorist group supporter threat also. The North Korean leadership is at least as reptilian in its regard for others, if not more so, than Saddam.
A victory in Iraq over Saddam, especially a quick and relatively easy one, if it unfolds that way, will only arouse Kim Jong Il’s concern that he too may eventually be targeted for regime change. Can we realistically expect the North Korean military leadership to fold under the threat of “shock and awe” like the Iraqi forces? We will face the same threats then, but they will be full-blown NBC and we cannot then risk the “No Body Cares” assertions so many troops have made about nuclear, biological and chemical defenses.
DefenseWatch Contributing Editor Eric R. Taylor PhD is an internationally recognized expert on chemical and biological terrorism, and served in the U.S. Army chemical corps in the early 1970s, and is the author of Lethal Mists. He can be reached at Lethalmists@cs.com.
Sempers,
Roger
03-21-2003
Iraqi WMD: So Far So Good
By Eric Taylor
Right now, we are focused on our forces as they advance from Kuwait into and through southern Iraq on their drive toward Baghdad. At this writing, our only reported casualties appear to be from a helicopter crash and two direct combat deaths.
The restraint exhibited by the U.S. National Command Authority in withholding our massive airpower from pulverizing Iraq may well be a wise political move as well as a military one. We avoid the likely collateral damage – both physical and in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people – and conserve very sophisticated ammunition for future pressing needs as well.
However, during the first several hours following the end of the ultimatum deadline declared by President Bush, our forces have been compelled on many occasions to “MOPP up” in response to various missile attacks and false alarms by Iraq. The concern prompting these “MOPP up’s,” of course, was the potential that those warheads may have been armed with chemical or biological agents. Thus far, we seem to have been spared that complication to what presently seems to be a smoothly unfolding and running operation.
It is a relief – but also a little perplexing – that we have not yet seen any significant attempt by Iraqi units to resist our incursion into their homeland. We all hope and pray that that continues for both us and the Iraqi people. The less damage of real property Iraq bears from this war of liberation, the better for them, and the less chaotic the rebuilding of a more humane Iraq will be after the shooting finally stops.
At the moment there is no word on the stocks of chem-bio weaponry Saddam has spent the last 12 years amassing, hiding and denying he possesses. So where is it? Why hasn't it been used at the outset?
Some political observers have voiced the theory that perhaps the Iraqi leadership is planning an operation that will unfold upon the arrival of our forces at the outskirts of Baghdad. A last stand effort would benefit from chem-bio use as around Baghdad, our forces are converging and becoming more concentrated than they currently are in the move on that target city.
As our forces move to encircle Baghdad, they will find themselves in a somewhat static standing, siege-style formation, making them a classic target for chem-bio attack. While they are currently moving, any such attack would be essentially ineffective as our forces would simply continue moving through or bypass the contamination area.
But the time is quickly coming when our forces will find themselves vulnerable to an Iraqi WMD attack.
Some TV “experts” on this subject have made it a point to shout the readiness of our forces to defend against chem-bio attacks. They continuously assure the American public that we have the best NBC equipment and training of any army of the world – although at the same time, news media reports reveal that the U.S. Marine Corps units are carrying caged pigeons as early warning devices for chemical agent detection.
This raises an obvious question: If our equipment, which certainly includes the latest in chemical agent detection and monitoring, is so reliable and flawless, why are pigeons necessary? Pigeons are a detection technology from World War I.
Nevertheless, if this technique does work, it will become the latest example of the Marine credo: adapt, improvise, survive. It also confirms the need for the U.S. military to continue to work hard on improving NBC defensive equipment and training, even if our men and women do not come under a chem-bio attack in Iraq.
Keep in mind that as serious as this show now is, it may ultimately end up as a side show. Assuming we can wrap up the military component of Iraqi liberation, we still have to deal with North Korea.
Like Iraq, North Korea covets chem-bio weapons as much as nukes. North Korea may well become a terrorist group supporter threat also. The North Korean leadership is at least as reptilian in its regard for others, if not more so, than Saddam.
A victory in Iraq over Saddam, especially a quick and relatively easy one, if it unfolds that way, will only arouse Kim Jong Il’s concern that he too may eventually be targeted for regime change. Can we realistically expect the North Korean military leadership to fold under the threat of “shock and awe” like the Iraqi forces? We will face the same threats then, but they will be full-blown NBC and we cannot then risk the “No Body Cares” assertions so many troops have made about nuclear, biological and chemical defenses.
DefenseWatch Contributing Editor Eric R. Taylor PhD is an internationally recognized expert on chemical and biological terrorism, and served in the U.S. Army chemical corps in the early 1970s, and is the author of Lethal Mists. He can be reached at Lethalmists@cs.com.
Sempers,
Roger