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A military investigation has concluded that a "friendly fire" incident in which a Navy pilot was shot down and killed by U.S. forces during the spring 2003 invasion of Iraq occurred because operators at two Patriot missile batteries and a command center all mistakenly took his F/A-18 Hornet for an incoming Iraqi missile, the U.S. Central Command said last night. The April 2003 incident was one of two during the campaign in which Patriot anti-missile batteries mistakenly hit allied aircraft. In the other, in late March 2003, a Patriot destroyed a British Tornado GR4 fighter-bomber near the border of Iraq...

New book on urban warfareGenerals think of urban combat the way vampires view garlic. But in Fallujah, Iraq, U.S. forces have rewritten the book on urban military operations, producing what have been, so far, better-than-average results with lower-than-average casualties. Military leaders hate fighting in cities because it's hard to find the enemy, to tell him apart from civilians and to use supporting weapons such as artillery and tanks. Combat can occur on multiple levels simultaneously (on the street, on rooftops, in basements), communication and resupply are difficult, and there really is no way to clear buildings except to send soldiers...

Structural steel of the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center was stripped of its fireproofing by debris from the aircraft impact and weakened by the resulting fires, eventually causing the towers to collapse, according to an interim report by the National Institute of Standards & Technology. The report says the region of dislodged fireproofing was determined from the predicted path of the debris. “Had the fireproofing not been dislodged, the temperature rise of the structural components would likely have been insufficient to cause the global collapse of the towers,” says NIST in the Oct. 19 release of another...

BENTON TOWNSHIP -- Although he emphasized that the Central Intelligence Agency boasts "tremendously talented men and women," former CIA Director George Tenet said it "did not live up to our expectations as professionals" regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the search for nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "We had inconsistent information, and we did not inform others in the community of gaps in our intelligence," Tenet said. "The extraordinary men and women who do magnificent work in the CIA are held accountable every day for what they do, and as part of keeping our faith with...

October 20, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — Federal investigators believe the second World Trade Center tower fell much more quickly than the first because it faced a more concentrated, intense fire inside, officials said yesterday. The detailed hypothesis was discussed at a meeting of investigators with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the Commerce Department. NIST investigators are preparing a massive draft report later this year detailing how and why the towers collapsed after being struck by fuel-filled jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001. The leading hypothesis was laid out yesterday in a daylong meeting with experts. Lead...

Members of the US military and their families say the Bush administration underestimated the number of troops needed in Iraq and put too much pressure on inadequately trained National Guard and reserve forces, according to a poll released today. The National Annenberg Election Survey found that 62% in the military sample said the administration didn’t send an adequate number of troops to Iraq. And 59% said too much of a burden has been put on the National Guard and the reserves when regular forces should have been expanded instead. Family members were more critical of the administration’s Iraq policy than...

Front-line U.S. troops often lacked access to surveillance and intelligence data during the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) because of computer glitches, Technology Review magazine reported on Tuesday, citing a largely classified report by Rand Corp. One battalion commander told the magazine he had almost no information on the strength and position of Iraqi forces after his division took control of a key bridge south of Baghdad on April 2, 2003. Lt. Col. Ernest Marcone said he was told to expect one Iraqi brigade advancing south from the Baghdad airport, but instead was forced to battle three separate...

WASHINGTON - The United States did not have enough troops in Iraq (news - web sites) after ousting Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and "paid a big price" for it, says the former head of the U.S. occupation there. L. Paul Bremer said Monday that he arrived in Iraq on May 6, 2003 to find "horrid" looting and a very unstable situation. "We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said during an address to an insurance group in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The group released a summary of his...

"Many things went wrong in Iraq War II, and many things went right. That makes it like every other war ever fought. War is unpredictable by its nature, and often won by the side that adapts most quickly to the unexpected. For this reason, our military is already deeply engaged in evaluating lessons learned – so far – and figuring out how to change. Last month I had the opportunity to hear a presentation by military analysts about these issues. Here is my take on several of their more salient observations"....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2004 — As the Air Force prepares to observe its 57th birthday Sept. 18, the nation's youngest military service continues to keep a sharp eye on the future. When anti-coalition forces in Iraq used jammers last year to thwart global positioning system precision-guided munitions in that theater, it represented a new but not unexpected challenge for the U.S. military: the first time an adversary challenged its dominance in space. Air Force Secretary James G. Roche said the threat — which the Air Force quickly squelched using GPS-guided munitions — didn't come out of the blue. "We had...

AMERICA’S Iraq war commander, General Tommy Franks, has disclosed the best-kept secret of the conflict: through a double agent called April Fool, he tricked Saddam Hussein into fatally bungling the defence of his country. As a result, while American armoured columns raced to Baghdad from southern Iraq, Saddam held back many of his best divisions to fight expected attacks from the north and west, which never came. Inadequately defended, Baghdad fell in less than three weeks and the regime collapsed. “Because of the sensitivity of the deception, only a few in the US government were aware of it,” Franks writes...

Available on line at the Fort Leavenworth Center for Army Lessons Learned. Best source so far for anyone wanting to really understand the military operations in Iraq. Covers everything from planning, prep & deployment to combat ops; including the debate over force size, the 507th debacle, the capture of Baghdad, etc. Although I have to admit that my favorite part was learning that the first Iraqi casualty of the war was inflicted by the Army's 9th PSYOPS battalion when a leaflet bundle they dropped failed to open and impacted on the head of an Iraqi soldier.

FORT HOOD , Texas , April 22, 2004 — A war fighting terrorists, the capture of a fallen dictator, the introduction of email to a battle zone and the first war of the century have earned the soldiers of Operation Iraqi Freedom a unique place in history. “This is a new type of war,” said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4 th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse. “This is a war of ideologies. This is about society, about our way of life and people trying to attack our way of life. This is what we are going...

  Logistics Chief Reports on Operation Iraqi Freedom Effort By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, March 31, 2004 – The Defense Department's logistics organization has procured myriad vital supplies for service members deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, a senior U.S. military officer noted here March 30. Service members rely on the Defense Logistics Agency "to provide food, fuel, medical supplies, clothing, construction and barrier material, and more than 90 percent of their weapons systems supply parts, both in times of peace and war," Navy Vice Adm. Keith W. Lippert noted in prepared remarks delivered to the House Readiness...

How Saddam Hussein was captured BBC News Online looks at how the operation to capture former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein unfolded. SADDAM HUSSEIN'S HIDING HOLE 1050: Tip-off received, two targets identified and given codenames 1800: 600 troops move towards 'Wolverine 1' and 'Wolverine 2' 2000: Targets searched, Saddam Hussein not found 2030: Hole found, Saddam Hussein captured with no resistance Saddam Hussein was captured after a tip-off led American troops to a small, underground hole concealed next to farm buildings near the former leader's hometown of Tikrit. Soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the hole,...

<! --- Main --- !>   The purpose of this document is to provide a high level strategic view of the cause of the war, the reason that the United States became involved in it, the fundamental goals the US has to achieve to win it, and the strategies the US is following, as well as an evaluation of the situation as of July, 2003. Most of what is here has been explored in far greater detail in numerous posts made on USS Clueless (http://denbeste.nu). [It was adapted from this entry.] [20030913: I have been making ongoing revisions to this...

UPDATE: Army Releases Mental Health Advisory Team Report on Operation Iraqi Freedom 3/24/2004 5:21:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor and Defense Reporter Contact: U.S. Army Public Affairs, 703-697-7550 News Advisory: UPDATE. (Editors: Please note new time and location.) WHAT: At the request of the Commanding General, Combined Joint Task Force-7, U.S. Central Command, the Army Surgeon General established and dispatched the Mental Health Advisory Team to assess and provide recommendations regarding OIF-related mental health services, soldier access to those services in theater and after evacuation, and effective suicide prevention measures for soldiers in active combat. The MHAT...

 Public Affairs March 23, 2004 Paratroopers remember the jump into IraqStory by Spc. Adrian Schulte, SETAF Public Affairs Photo by Spc. C. Terrell Turner Last minute checks are accomplished before paratroopers board the plane bound for Iraq to participate in the historic jump. VICENZA, Italy -- It has almost been a year since about one thousand paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted into war, opening up the northern front in the effort to liberate Iraq. The March 26, 2003 jump was recently classified as a combat jump and the paratroopers who participated in it will now be able to...

<p>WASHINGTON -- A decade ago, the Army began producing an armored Humvee capable of providing protection from many roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.</p> <p>Like most soldiers in Iraq, Capt. Cameron Birge hasn't set foot in one of those vehicles. Instead, he leads convoys through one of the country's most violent regions in a Humvee -- the modern successor to the Jeep -- with a sheet-metal skin that can't even stop bullets from a small-caliber handgun. To shield himself, Capt. Birge removed his Humvee's canvas doors and welded on slabs of scrap metal. He spread Kevlar blankets over the seats and stacked sandbags on the floor.</p>

Today: March 20, 2004 at 4:55:47 PST Fears Impacted U.S. Reporting on IraqBy MIELIKKI ORGASSOCIATED PRESS BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Competitive pressures and a fear of appearing unpatriotic discouraged journalists from doing more critical reporting during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, according to reporters and others at a conference on media coverage of the war. The journalists on the panels at the University of California at Berkeley this week blamed the Bush administration for leaking faulty information, but said the media also has itself to blame for not being more skeptical about the case for war. "The press...