This is from Russia Today

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Newsweek: U.S. Military Not Ready for Urban Warfare of the Future, As Seen in Grozny

NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2000 -- (PRNewswire) The Pentagon is looking at the battle for the Chechan capital of Grozny -- which was long and bloody for Russian attackers and Chechen defenders -- as a preview of urban warfare of the future that the U.S. military is not prepared nor equipped for. "I'm not so sure that we'd do a whole lot better than the Russians," one senior Pentagon official says in the current issue of Newsweek.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000212/HSSA013 )

Instead of the high-tech, laser-guided munitions which worked in the gulf war, U.S. military planners say they need equipment such as handheld sensors to detect an enemy in the next room, and the sort of trolley that mechanics use to go under cars to rescue wounded comrades. In the last couple of weeks, a company of Marines has been "fighting" their way through the houses and office blocks of Fort Ord, Calif., an Army base abandoned in 1994. If the results mimic those at a similar exercise last spring, they won't be encouraging. In "attacks" on a naval hospital in Oakland, Calif., the Marines took casualty rates as high as 70 percent, reports National Security Correspondent John Barry in the February 21 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 14).

In the past, the U.S. Army avoided cities because the cost of street-fighting casualties was just too steep, Barry reports. If cities couldn't be avoided, then the other option was to flatten them. Now, neither option exists. ((c) 2000 PRNewswire)

-- Zdude (zdude777@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000

Answers

Good post.now you know why you can not depend on a standing army to defend your country

-- Charles (chatcher@hcnews.com), February 15, 2000.

Zog, you may have missed one thing: get the U.N. troops the heck out of being stationed in this country.

That (hourse to house) kind of combat is always going to be downright ugly. Silver bullets (technology) hasn't seriously changed it yet, not really. It will happen, unless somehow this Trilateral Commission/Kofi Anan/Slick Willy chute we are sliding further down is somehow derailed.

Gore, Bradley, McCain, Bush? I don't see a one even thinking about changing course.

The real messy stuff gets done by the folks a little ways up from the bottom of the military ladder. The Hackworth article linked below is one example of what concerns me just as much -- hard skills and morale.

Decimate the sargent-level ranks, and remember that it takes years and years to grow those folks, and you have no one left to effectively lead the poorly-trained enlistees. Decimate the morale of the real special op.s troops, and for different reasons the result will be much the same.

Somewhere in all my dusty stuff I have a Boy Scout Marksmanship merit badge. Back then, it took a litte doing, but not all that much. Now? I'd be surprised if it even exists -- not PC, you see. Heck, darn near every school and health-care bureaucrat who comes into contact with my kids seems to insist on asking if there are any weapons in our house.

Grrr... End of rant.

"WND: Hackworth on Warrior Ethic"

-- Redeye in Ohio (not@work.com), February 15, 2000.

--yep, first thing, a set of cuffs all around for the top level executive branch, second thing, a big ole tank pointed at the front door of the UN with a vamoose notice hanging from the barrel. I used to think a 72 hours notice would be appropriate, now I'm thinking no notice, just get them to drop everything and leave, so the records may be searched. the globalist truth needs to come out for all to see.

of course, none of this will happen most likely, but a freedom fantasy is part of my daily regimen!

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.

Zdude,

As I sees it, this is actually one of the "first steps" for .gov to convince the populace that it is in their benefit to have U.S. troops practicing on, and *policing* U.S. streets.

Otherwise, why print it?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 15, 2000.

Concur with Frank's analysis. Too often, we've seen "test balloons" sent up by this govt, which are then followed by polls, which are then followed by a "new policy on behalf of the children", or some such crap. Fact: troops are training actively for what's called "MOUT" aka Military Operations in Urban Terrain. It was all over the internet news last year in WND, Drudge, etc. Scary stuff. What the military has learned so far is that house-to-house fighting is damn tough and exceptionally bloody. Especially if you want to preserve essential infrastructure such as roads/bridges, utilities, water/sewer, etc for further use after the takeover. Of course, if you aren't concerned with that, then just bomb the crap out of the neighborhood. Doesn't win the war, though.

Just wonder how many otherwise law-abiding firearms owners are willing to take up arms themselves to defend their homes and towns against an agressor? Especially if said aggressor turned out to be your friendly feral gummint??

-- (sofpj@netscape.net), February 15, 2000.

Search  Site Map  Feedback

Whether it is this week or not, Nasdaq will eventually punish the hordes of investors who have grown aggressively fond of growth and technology funds. And while the Nasdaq 100 and Nasdaq Composite so far remain in an uptrend, the question is how long can this continue?

While Nasdaq is still acting well in terms of volume and relative strength, the action over the last few days resembles a topping pattern. A close below last week's lows this week would suggest that at least a temporary top has been put in place.

In the meantime I am maintaining exposure to leading Nasdaq issues and hedging with short positions in weaker relative strength issues (largely Internets), and the S&P 500.

-- test (test@test.test), February 16, 2000.