Fallujah and The End of Warfare: Abhay Mehta

[teryang]

Although very biased, this piece does presents some serious questions about what exactly has happened and what is now going on in Fallujah. Military history is definitely being made by the underdogs who are challenging the American military establishment.

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MEH412A.html

The End Of Warfare
by Abhay Mehta

<Falluah and indeed the rest of Iraq post April 2003, heralds "supersymmetrical" warfare and the end of conventional warfare. This represents a turning point in military affairs – the end of warfare--as practiced by the Americans --i.e the application of overwhelming force to obtain a victory.

Consider one such example. A RPG 7 can travel up to 300/700/950 meters. At 300 meters, even a basic warhead can penetrate 330 mm of steel armor. Yes, 33 cms, 13 inches--that is a lot of steel. The projectile would cost perhaps $30-40. Conservatively, a squad of 3 armed with RPG-7s have more than a fighting chance against a M1 Abrams. In close urban quarters, the advantage that the tank had (in say open ground in a conventional war) is completely lost.

The cost/personnel advantage is noteworthy. With minimal or no training, just about any one can operate a RPG. A squad of say 3 would cost perhaps no more than $5000 to equip. Against this, the M1 Abrams ("the mightiest tank", 70 odd tonnes of steel, a few million a pop).<snip>

[Englander]

1. Many thanks for this article.....

As much as anything is the "truth",most of what this author says bears closer scrutiny.


More on the author;

http://www.indiatogether.org/interviews/abhay-enron.htm
Power to the people, but at what price?
An interview with Abhay Mehta, author of Power Play

Abhay Mehta trained as a Molecular Biologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University. He returned to India in 1993, and became interested in the economics of the Enron-Dhabol Power project. Subsequently, he authored a book - Power Play - on the topic, a narrative that covers the entire project. India Together caught up with him during his lecture tour of the United States. This interview was conducted by Subramaniam Vincent in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[teryang]

3. Interesting that as a result of the corrupt Enron project

...social unrest is predicted down the line. So called "free trade" in action.

[bemildred]

2. Nice piece, thanks for posting.

Old news, but as you say, underneath the rhetoric he lays the
case out (again) well, and explicates it in the case of Fallujah.

One thinks of dinosaurs.

[Dancing_Dave]

4. Great article!

How amazing to find something so profound in what tends to be the most idiotic forum at DU!;-)

[agarrett1]

5. The implications are sobering

But not in the way Mehta thinks.

Western warfare has traditionally been brutal. The advent of representative governance has actually made warfare more - not less - brutal. The short form - if a people as whole has decided to go to war, they will not accept anything less than victory.

Now, if we have the case that urban warfare negates the advantages of overwhelming force, there are actually two (not one) options. First, as Mehta argues, we can accept defeat, or negotiate/arrange a non-military solution. But there is a second option he chooses to ignore. We can eliminate urban centers.

Never forget just how powerful our military actually is. It's easy to say we will not kill hundreds of thousands of people to achieve some small military objective. It is also dead wrong. Just look at our history - Britain's as well - and look at what we will do to our enemies.

If Mehta is correct, and we do not find another counter to urban warfare, I think that we will see a very different outcome than he suggests.

Drew Garrett

[DulceDecorum]

6. The West has been defeated -- by their own sperm counts

All that pollution has had its effect.
Viagra and Levitra and all that jazz
may keep you awake at night
but the population in the West is falling like a stone.

And those man-made diseases that keep escaping from military labs aren't helping anyone.

The US soldier is a gone case.
He returns to the US with burning sperm syndrome.
His offspring are mutant -- thanks to the Depleted Uranium that lines the tanks and the bullets and bombs and their dust.

The anthrax injection debilitate him as does the modafinil that they shove down his throat to keep him awake and alert for days on end.

Now,
agarrett1 says:
- if a people as whole has decided to go to war, they will not accept anything less than victory.

Those people are the people of Iraq.
They, as a whole have decided to to destroy the enemy in their midst.
They will not accept anything less than a victory.
Can you hear them singing the song of the oppressed?
http://ingeb.org/spiritua/weshallo.html
I can.