Can the U.S. Avoid Urban Combat in Baghdad?

Abstract

Some military thinkers believe that it is possible to avoid urban combat when attacking and seizing a city. They claim that U.S. forces can do this by taking an Indirect Approach. The proposal is basically a siege of the city. This course of action is appealing to the media, the public, and politicians who wish to avoid U.S. casualties. The proposal makes sense when described using a hypothetical situation. Will the proposal's logic hold when applied to a realistic scenario? One way to evaluate the proposal is to choose a scenario and then do a course of action assessment. By using the situation in Iraq in mid-March, 2003, it was possible to develop a military estimate that described the conditions in Baghdad. Using MG(R) Robert H. Scales' description of the Indirect Approach, the campaign that places U.S. or allied forces near Baghdad was designed. MB Scales' proposal was then used to develop a course of action that attacks the city indirectly. The feasibility of the course of action was then evaluated by comparing its results to the end state that the U.S. desired in Iraq. The Indirect Approach does not contribute towards the U.S.'s desired end state and objectives. One problem is that the Iraqi regime may be able to withstand the siege over time, in which case a stalemate will occur. In addition, without using forces on the ground and human intelligence inside the city, U.S. forces may not be able to find and eliminate WMD early enough in the operation. Finally, the extraordinary physical and psychological effects of the siege will not be compatible to U.S. goals of liberating the Iraqi people and installing a regime that does not pose a threat to the U.S. Instead, the siege will brew hatred among the Iraqi people and the rest of the Arab world.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 2003
Accession Number
ADA420053

Entities

People

  • Robert Whittle Jr

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Power
  • Aircrafts
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Drinking Water
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Human Intelligence
  • Information Operations
  • International Organizations
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Surveillance
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design