|
|
.
AFI
RESEARCH INTELL.BRIEFING The intelligence services opened up significant channels to the Iraqi military and political leadership itself and these may have indeed proved of the greatest importance in understanding the final and precipitate collapse of resistance in Baghdad and elsewhere.
Contact Richard
Bennett Media
A war fought on a multitude
of levels.
The important events that led up
to the War on Iraq, the circumstances surrounding the final decision
to invade and the actual course of the conflict itself have all
been shrouded in a fog of mystery and disinformation. Trying to
identify the crucial elements of the military campaign; the
unconventional and original tactics; the intelligence war and the
political infighting has proved not surprisingly well beyond the
capabilities of most of the worlds news media. However as more
information begins to leak out it is quickly becoming clear that this
was a war fought on many levels and not least for the minds of
the Iraqi leadership and the Western electorates.
~
Watching the amazing 350 mile dash
along the desert roads by the 3rd (US) Infantry Division towards Baghdad
and the US Marine Corps crashing through the defences in Central Iraq raised
a number of perfectly sound military questions such as why two fine
but seemingly ill-chosen 'heavy' infantry units should be used in
what would normally be the domain of an Armoured Division, while
the British 1st Armoured Division with the famed 7th 'Desert Rats'
Tank Brigade and the 16th Air Assault Brigade of the
legendry 'Para's' should be deployed just across the few miles to
Basra and basically sit there for three weeks slowly investing the
city has puzzled many observers. It has been suggested that this
may be taken as a comment on the reliability of much of the British
equipment and the lack of the logistic support that would be required
for a significant advance towards Baghdad, rather than any lack of
confidence by CENTCOM in the fighting ability of the British
troops.
~
Too little attention has been paid so
far to the outstanding operations conducted by Special Forces
units from the United States and those of Britain and Australia. Here
a remarkable level of co-operation was achieved between the highly
specialized
formations
such as Delta Force; the 160th; SEAL's, and the various US Army and
Marine special forces with the intelligence paramilitaries of both
the CIA and Israel's Mossad. The SBS and the SAS Regiments from both
Britain and Australia were also deeply committed along with elements
from their respective intelligence services; MI6(SIS) and the ASIS. The
Iraqi regime was targeted for some months by covert operations to
identify possible sites for WMD; leadership bunkers and the whole
command, control and communication system. Perhaps even more importantly
the intelligence services opened up significant channels to the Iraqi
military and political leadership itself and these may have indeed
proved of the greatest importance in understanding the final and
precipitate collapse of resistance in Baghdad and elsewhere.
~
Once the war began with an attempted
elimination of much of the regimes leadership, the covert operations
began to quickly destabilize the entire structure of the Iraqi
political and military command. Assassinations; sabotage and the
accurate targeting of vital facilities played a truly significant part
in the victory. However, the links established with potential traitors
inside the Army and the Republican Guard were to later
hit 'pay-dirt' in a big way. Although the Coalition forces did
indeed face considerable opposition from elements of the main Iraqi
combat formations and from Ba'ath Party loyalists and Fedayeen, little
in the way of cohesive defence was offered at any of the crucial choke
points.The Iraqi's indeed seemed to have not taken the threat of
invasion seriously or simply accepted that they could not offer
significant resistance. There was no concerted attempt to destroy the
oil fields; vital river bridges; dams or to flood the low-lying
approaches to many of the main cities. Few mine fields were laid or
defensive zones built with strong points. Even in Baghdad, a city
difficult to defend at any time, little was done to deny the US forces
either the bridges or the use of the wide avenues of approach.
Buildings were not fortified and indeed no attempt was made to
withdraw large numbers of combat units into the city to deny the US
air assault easy targets.
~
According to a number of intelligence
sources in both the Gulf and Israel; the Russian Ambassador to Iraq
and indeed former Iraqi military officers, the links the CIA and US
Special Forces had previously made with Iraqi commanders effectively
resulted in the surrender of Baghdad. Even the Republican Guard were
apparently ordered at a crucial moment not to blow certain bridges
south of the City and to withdraw allowing the US Marines to make
their unexpected appearance in the suburbs of Baghdad. In return for
not being included on Washington's list of 55 of the regimes most
wanted, some senior Iraqi
military commanders ensured that armoured vehicles were arrayed in
such a way that they presented no immediate threat and basically
ordered their remaining soldiers to 'go home'. In return for the
safety of their families and ultimate escape, senior Iraq
commanders gave the US military the keys to Baghdad, Mosul, and Tikrit.
~
Rumours abound about the fate of
Saddam Hussein and much of the senior leadership. It is thought likely
that the Coalition succeeded in killing some, but the rest are
believed to still be in hiding or to have fled abroad. The list of
their bolt-holes is growing; Iran and Syria; France and Russia and
perhaps most intriguingly even Saudi Arabia as it has been suggested
that the Saudi Government played no small part in establishing
the links to dissident elements within the Baghdad regime. A
theory put forward however by certain
Gulf intelligence sources and given some endorsement by the Russians
is that just before the final collapse of Baghdad Saddam died, either
as the result of the US 'getting lucky' or by the actions of a
group of officers planning to save themselves and the lives of many of
their young soldiers by ending further resistance.
~
The current
'buzz' around Washington and Langley is that certain elements
of the Iraqi political and military elite along with significant
Republican Guard forces have escaped to Syria in order to
maintain some form of resistance to US occupation of Iraq, however
without definite proof this must remain only a distant
possibility. Whatever the fate of the Iraqi dictator and his
sons the true events behind the 2003 War against Iraq are likely to be
quite remarkable and indeed very different from the conflict
portrayed 24 hours a day on the TV News or endlessly pontificated
about by countless long retired Generals. It is an example of the fact
that modern war is indeed fought on a multitude of levels; political,
diplomatic, economic, psychological, intelligence, disinformation and
propaganda, information and cyber warfare, unconventional operations
and probably last of all, the use of conventional military might. It
is a salutatory lesson for all those nations that may have cause to
fear being next on Washington's list for regime change.
~
Richard M. Bennett and Maj. Frank
Hayes
~
Richard
Bennett Media. rbmedia@supanet.com
Join our Daily News Headlines Email Digest
|
|||||||
