Baghdad as an Operational Center of Gravity?

Abstract

During the major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad was identified as the operational center of gravity by General Franks, members of President Bush's administration and others in Central Command. Based on current doctrine, Baghdad could not have been the center of gravity. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a center of gravity analysis and deconstruction to determine the true operational center of gravity (during the decisive operations phase). The paper will also explore why Baghdad was misidentified as the center of gravity and discuss possible ramifications if a wrong center of gravity is identified. Additionally, this paper discusses inadequacy of current joint doctrine and the responsibility of a professional military officer to remain current in doctrine.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 13, 2006
Accession Number
ADA463265

Entities

People

  • Thomas M. Feltey

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Center Of Gravity
  • Combat Operations
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Iraqi-War
  • Joint Military Activities
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Security
  • United States
  • United States Central Command
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.