Ok I posted this same general question in the "War in Iraq" section and got a few responses, but not really the type of military focused kind I was looking for. I am re-posting it here in hope that it will do a little better. The question is phrased a bit better too I hope, and should be more clear:
Given that you were assigned to invade Iraq using the United States military as your resource, what strategy/ies would you use? The hypothetical situation is that you
must invade Iraq and remove Saddam from office or remove Saddam and invade Iraq, whichever way you think is better.
- How would you address the task of fighting a terrorist force while trying to restore peace?
- What would be your initial push into Iraq be like?
- What preliminary action and preparation would you have done before actually invading?
- What steps would you have taken to deal with civilian cooperation/resistance?
- Also are there any type of units that do not currently exist in the U.S. military forces that you think would have been helpful in this campaign?
- If you do (I know I do) then what would they be and how would you have gone about creating them if it was up to you?
I don't mean this to be a laundry list of questions. The list is simply to start with. Just throw in any extra details that you can think of or that you think are important.
While my actual knowledge of the terrain, enemy strength and position is limited at best I have a few ideas of what I would have done. I am only a first year college student and I don't claim to be any sort of expert. Most of my information and ideas come from reading military history and baisic exposure to modern tactics and units from shows, books and a bit of research. From this post I hope to see if anyone shares the same ideas or has better ones I could learn from.
I am looking for more of what type of strategy. As in a large land force preceded by tactical airstrikes or perhaps a major bombing campaign instead. I'm not really looking for changes in squad tactics as much but if you have input on that it is welcome. I have read a bit about the squad tactics of the Marines in Iraq but I don't think there is anything I could change for the better. If you see something that you would have changed then throw that in.
I also hope to learn more about what the military situation was and is in Iraq. I am sure many of you know about details that might effect how I would have planned to do it so I am going to wait until there have been a few responses before I post mine. I also want this to be a lengthy discussion. I don't think you can have a too detailed plan. I want to hear about all of it.
Hopefully this will develop into a dialogue over the tactics and strategies both in how they could apply to Iraq and how they work in general. Specifically future US military tactics and possible new units for fighting in a similar situation. I love talking about that type of stuff and don't have many people to talk to about it.
If you haven't read my "welcome to the forums" post I explain a lot of where I am coming from and what exactly sparked my interest in this subject.
Hope to see some good ideas. I will be posting my full plan after my midterm tonight. That is if I don't pass out before reaching my computer.