Ignoring Victory

In another good post, Publius at The John Adams Blog, considers Saturday's Minneapolis StarTribune editorial, Whither Iraq?/Its future doesn't look good. Publius writes

Although the article is wholly defeatist, the comparison to the outlook of Vietnam in the 1970s is the most egregious.

This is the only part I disagree with. That is, what the most egregious part is. The most egregious part of the StarTribune editorial is that they are defeatist in the midst of one of the most impressive urban warfare victories in recent history. It seems any victory of US troops is met with a big yawn. But consider what was being said before we invaded Iraq (this from the Daily Kos, January 17, 2003)

But, as this Christian Science Monitor article makes clear, the US could face far worse in Baghdad:

Inside Iraqi cities, military operations would be vastly more complicated. Buildings constrict troop and tank maneuvers, interfere with radio communications, and limit close air support from helicopters and gunships. Dense populations make airstrikes - even precision ones - costly in civilian lives. From sewers to rooftops, cities are multilayered, like three-dimensional chessboards, creating endless opportunities for ambushes and snipers. Worse, Iraqi forces defending the cities could try to halt invading troops by shelling them with chemical weapons.

The prospect of urban warfare is one that the US military is increasingly more likely to face. Thus, as this article notes, the US Army is focusing more and more of its training on urban tactics. Yet even the best trained units take massive casualties in an urban environment. In the excercise witnessed by the reporter, US forces took a small town, but at the cost of dozens of its own soldiers. It's a sobering and eye-opening piece. But not surprising, throughout history, urban warfare has been the great equalizer -- it allowed Somali warlords to fight the US to a standstill. It allowed the Chechens to make a mockery of the better equipped Russians. And so on.

And this wasn't simply the usual pessimism. The Russians really did get whipped in Grozny. They lost entire columns of men and tanks. Eight hundred men in a day. To see how this happened, read the Belmont Club. Nevertheless, the US Marines and Army kicked major ass. We lost men, and very good men at that. But this was a major victory. We did not lose dozens of men to take over a small town. Fallujah is a city of hundreds of thousands with thousands of dug in terrorists with very good weapons. And an RPG ain't a pea-shooter. So, of course, now is the time for pessimism.