Much of Knight-Ridder's war coverage has been downbeat, but one new article on Saddam's deception tactics is still worth pondering. What the article doesn't address is how Centcom is countering Saddam's tactics, so the picture they paint remains incomplete. Our units are adaptable and flexible; we learn as we go. But it really is a cat-and-mouse game on the battlefield.
So far, Saddam has managed to preserve many of his best forces by moving, dispersing and sheltering them - and, some U.S. officials say, by using decoys to deplete American stocks of precision munitions. U.S. assessments of bomb damage and of the exact locations of enemy units can best be described as "conflicted."
Iraq's strategy and tactics have been drawn directly from an old Soviet doctrine called "maskirovka" - a mix of measures designed to mislead the enemy about everything from the disposition of forces and their combat readiness to the commander's plans. That's not surprising: The Soviet Union was Iraq's military mentor for many years. According to the 1978 Soviet Military Encyclopedia: "Strategic maskirovka is carried out at national and theater levels to mislead the enemy as to political and military capabilities, intentions and timing of actions."
Posted by Alan at March 29, 2003 09:43 AM