(2004-10-05) Grossman Iraq Tactics

Elaine Grossman on criticisms of War On Iraq tactics from active military; interesting FourGW perspectives. "Every time we go kinetic, we actually play into the evil-doers' hands," said one recently returned Marine officer. Service members use the term "kinetic" to refer to weapons that cause physical damage, distinguishing them from such "non-kinetic" tools as influence, deterrence or coercion. Yet U.S. Army and Marine Corps units in Iraq have tended to take a direct approach, focusing on eliminating the problem by simply killing the enemy, critics in the officer corps say. Several point to the U.S. attacks on Fallujah following the ambush of U.S. contractors there in the spring. Just after relinquishing command of the I Marine Expeditionary Force in mid-September, Lt. Gen. James Conway told reporters the orders to assault Fallujah and later to withdraw came from top U.S. policymakers in Washington. Conway said he resisted calls for revenge after the contractor killings, preferring instead to undertake a combination of targeted attacks on militants and engagement with local civic leaders. But he was overruled, he said... The incident that tipped the balance - the Fallujah situation - was more akin to a bunch of outsiders wandering into a dangerous neighborhood in a U.S. city, and should have been handled accordingly, suggests another officer. "There are parts of Los Angeles that folks do not drive around in," said one officer, an Iraq veteran whose identity was confirmed by ITP (Inside The Pentagon), in an anonymous e-mail circulating in the defense community. "DC types overreacted initially and went kinetic, which is exactly what the insurgents wanted." Political leaders "took the bait and now look at all the dead (on all sides) and (the) mess we are in," this officer said.