Last week, US forces surrounded and killed the sons of president Saddam Hussein.
I have never been a supporter of Saddam Hussein or his regime. Nor do I wish them well today. However, the way that Uday and Qusay were killed needs to be examined carefully so as to derive useful lessons.
Let me briefly recap the events that led to their death.
US forces, based on a tip-off from a friend of the Hussein family (in return for a $30 million reward), surrounded a house in Mosul in which Uday, Qusay, his 14-year-old son Mustafa, and one of their supporters had hidden. Some 200 US soldiers backed by helicopter gunships, missiles and mortar shells, attacked the house. After a battle, which lasted six hours, the three men and boy were dead.
I was appalled.
I have said it before (not in this publication) and I say it again: Western, and especially US, military doctrine is incapable of achieving victory.
It took a 50:1 ratio (I am ignoring the helicopters, etc.) of crack (at least that’s what the Americans call them) troops five hours to kill the three men and a boy who were hiding not in a heavily fortified bunker but in a simple villa.
What a disgrace!
In addition, they were not even trying to capture them alive. If they had been, maybe it would have taken them a week. Had these been Saudi troops I would have urged that they be court-martialed for sheer colossal incompetence and cowardice.
We must learn from this that US military strategy, doctrine, tactics and whatever else you can think of have reached a point of total bankruptcy. They are simply incapable of fighting real battles against real people who do not roll over and play dead on cue.
Therefore it is incumbent on us to avoid being influenced by their bankrupt military thinking and to start using our own common sense and to learn from people who have a proven track record of success in modern warfare.
I would like to suggest learning military arts from such people as the Vietnamese, who proved beyond a shadow of doubt their military superiority over the US despite the latter’s almighty bluster and fancy hardware (how the Americans love their toys).
The Chinese also have a thing or two to teach us. Do not forget that they fought the US and its allies (another coalition of the willing) to a standstill in Korea at a time when the US was at its mightiest militarily and economically. China at the time was a Third World country, which had just come through a massive civil war.
The East, brothers and sisters, is where we should look. Forget about the West, for they are finished.
As for you, the American people, you must start to worry that the performance of your military does not start to give ideas to your southern neighbors. If they continue to perform like they are doing in Iraq, then I for one believe the Mexican Army is a serious threat to your national integrity.
Arab News Opinion 27 July 2003
