Re: [iwar] British Marines resting over November

From: Mandeep Singh Bajwa (bajwa@i91.net.in)
Date: 2001-11-01 02:06:06
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From: "Mandeep Singh Bajwa" <bajwa@i91.net.in>
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Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 15:36:06 +0530
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Subject: Re: [iwar] British Marines resting over November
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Sending combat ready and tasked troops out on seemingly un-connected manoeuvres or leave is an old military disinformation technique. 
As regards the conduct of the campaign there is no alternative to the induction of land forces for a prolonged campaign. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Casualties will have to be accepted and planned for. 

Mandeep Singh Bajwa
South Asia Editor
Orders of Battle Internet Magazine
http://orbat.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: yangyun@metacrawler.com 
  To: iwar@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 4:34 PM
  Subject: [iwar] British Marines resting over November


  British task force not ready for land assault
  War on Terrorism: Strategy
  By Kim Sengupta in Muscat, Oman
  30 October 2001

  The war in Afghanistan is running into an array of problems: a seeming
  lack of strategy, an absence of any significant breakthrough on the
  ground, and conflicting signals from political and military leaders.

  Against this backdrop, further evidence emerged in Oman yesterday that
  any British land action in Afghanistan is a considerable time away.

  Military sources disclosed that the 238 Marines who will form the
  nucleus of the strike force will undertake a live-fire exercise until
  next week and then be allowed 10 days' leave.

  The men have already spent six weeks in Oman, taking part in Exercise
  Saif Sareea II, the biggest deployment of British troops since the
  Falklands which has turned into a rehearsal for a real war.

  British special forces and the Marines are expected to undertake some
  of the most hazardous missions in the coming winter war, carrying out
  hit-and-run raids against the Taliban and their al-Qa'ida allies. But
  British military commanders are determined the troops should have the
  fullest possible preparations as well as rest, and the public should
  be made aware of the extreme difficulties of the task ahead.

  Further training is also required. The aircraft carrier the HMS
  Illustrious is being stripped of its fixed-wing aircraft to make room
  for the combat and transport helicopters needed for Afghanistan.
  "There is planning to be done and planning to be ready to get the task
  force reconfigured," Rear Admiral James Burnell-Nugent, the officer in
  charge of the British task force, said. "This ship has got some
  training to do. Although she has a role as a commando carrier, she
  hasn't done it for a while and it is a very difficult role."

  The admiral said he wanted to take the Marines on board Illustrious
  and the assault ship HMS Fearless as late as possible. Spending weeks
  on board would dull their skills and also lead to boredom, he said.

  Forty-eight days after the terrorist attack on the US, the politicians
  are still talking a good war. But senior military officers are
  increasingly cautious about the outcome and have given up any thought
  of a swift victory. They also feel that realpolitik by the US and
  British governments, often conducted in contradictory fashions, is
  hampering their operations.

  Weeks of bombing have not broken the Taliban or led to a popular
  revolt, as some politicians, especially in Washington, had predicted.

  The intended transition from the air to a ground campaign has been
  anything but smooth. The first, and only, commando raid inside
  Afghanistan almost ended in disaster because of faulty intelligence.
  The raid was a purely cosmetic one for the benefit of the media and
  the public on a target, which intelligence had claimed, would be
  poorly defended. The tenacity of the Taliban in fighting back has so
  alarmed the Pentagon that no further raids have taken place. The lack
  of intelligence remains the same.

  Also noticeable by its absence is any significant advance by the
  Northern Alliance which was supposed to have a pincer effect, with the
  air strikes, on the Afghan regime. The military marginally blamed the
  politicians for this. The attitude of Washington and London towards
  the Alliance has taken several twists and a few new turns. In the
  immediate aftermath of 11 September, the military was told to
  establish contact with them as potential allies. This was then
  abandoned due to Pakistani pressure, only to be reactivated later.

  The present Western stance appears to be that the Alliance can take
  Mazar-i-Sharif, and the military airfield there can then be used by
  the Allies, but they must not march on Kabul. The Alliance has, of
  course, failed to do either.

  Both British and American sources say the relationship between the US
  Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and the military hierarchy,
  especially the Chief of Staff, General Richard Myers, is frosty at
  best and combustible at worst.

  In Britain the deployment of ground forces was delayed by disputes
  between the Army and the Navy on whether paratroopers or Marines
  should be the combat troops. The Navy seems to have won.



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