Shaffer
03-25-03, 07:50 AM
President Bush and U.S. forces have encouraged Iraqi commanders and soldiers to surrender rather than resist overwhelming American air and artillery power.
But the Iraq war launched late Wednesday may require U.S. personnel to engage Saddam Hussein's holdout forces in urban warfare, or what the Pentagon calls MOUT: Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain.
"Historically militaries have left the urban environment alone because it's just too dangerous," said Jenny Holbert, spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. "We just can't do that," because enemies of the United States have learned that they cannot defeat American forces on an open battlefield.
American war planners are not about to use the same tactics they fought with in Europe during World War II or in Seoul during the Korean War, Holbert advised.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-5/104817629665960.xml
But the Iraq war launched late Wednesday may require U.S. personnel to engage Saddam Hussein's holdout forces in urban warfare, or what the Pentagon calls MOUT: Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain.
"Historically militaries have left the urban environment alone because it's just too dangerous," said Jenny Holbert, spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. "We just can't do that," because enemies of the United States have learned that they cannot defeat American forces on an open battlefield.
American war planners are not about to use the same tactics they fought with in Europe during World War II or in Seoul during the Korean War, Holbert advised.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-5/104817629665960.xml