Why are we still applying Fulda Gap military strategy to the war in Iraq?

Question

Doesn't a war without borders and nation states mean we shouldn't treat it like a war with the Soviet Bloc?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulda_Gap

Answer 1

Nope, who said we are? We are leading the world in fighting counter-insurgency and developing new and improved TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures). We still have the "Fulda Gap" fight on the shelf, but right now we are fight an insrugency within host nations.

And hey I worked with daily this year recently retired LTC Nagel, one of the guys who helped re-write the new Counterinsurgency manual who is now heading back over to work with.....guess who: GEN Petreaus to form a Think Tank.

Answer 2

"We are leading the world in fighting counter-insurgency and developing new and improved TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures)." (sheer delusion on a scale only US forces personnel can dream up.)

... I think not, not when the USA is losing the 2 coin ops it is currently running - it doesn't even have a definition of success!  And sorry to remind you 'Shock and awe', but the US is the newcomer to this kind of operation, having spectacularly blown all its previous attempts (remember the V-word?).

I subscribe to the view of the head of the UK army, General Dannatt, who has extensive coin experience (over many decades, which is decades more than your guys)... that our presence there is part of the problem and not the solution.

In fact the whole issue is that these operations should be treated not like military operations but like police actions - implying a political solution...

I don't see that coming from the Bush camp anytime soon, or any major winning of hearts and minds either, do you?

Answer 3

We aren't using massed arrays of troops with aerial squadrons and armored support columns to go up against a similar array of Warsaw Pact troops. We are using the new doctrine developed in part by General Petraeus and set down in Field Manual 24-3 (Counterinsurgency Operations). Try doing a web search for FM 24-3 and try to use that instead of some Wikipedia citation.  

Answer 4

You're watching a different war than I am.  The US Armed Forces in Iraq are much lighter and far more mobile than the forces that stood-off the Warsaw Pact forces in Germany.  The training our guys receive is almost exclusively dedicated toward an urban battlefield.

Answer 5

We aren't doing as you say. Follow your own advise. Forget asking about this war that is protecting your life and just go shopping. Bill Clinton said he opposed a tax decrease because the people would not know what to do with the money. Just go spend some more money and pay those taxes Clinton loves and support the government that protects your freedom to be here asking questions.