Someone please explain to me why an invading force would not

[zbdent]

secure the areas that they have gone through, so that the enemy cannot sneak up from behind and encircle them?

That's what's been bugging me about the Al-Qaqaa thing.

Military would normally not leave their asses wide open for an assault from the rear, right?

Unless . . .

They were ordered from above to make sure they get to a "target" quickly for a "quick win" photo-op . . . say, on May 1, 2003, less than two months after the start of the invasion?

[Hello_Kitty]

1. But....but....

They had to guard the OIL!!! What's the matter with you. You unpatriotic SUV hater!!

[aden_nak]

2. That was how we ran the Iraqi operation.

We rushed to Baghdad. We did so beacuse we DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TROOPS to secure our flank. There were literally not enough soldiers to either watch our own asses or even properly secure our convoys and supply lines. We worked on "blind faith" rushing into the capital, and it seemed to work at first.

Eh, not so much now.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Saddam had this all laid out months prior to shrub's faux paux

or so I've heard....

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/481/
>>Eight months before receiving the German intelligence evaluation on the certainty of war, Saddam issued a circular to senior Baath Party officials instructing them to be prepared for a US attack "at any moment." The July 2002 circular warned: "Iraq will be defeated militarily due to the imbalance in forces." The balance would be re-established by "dragging the US military into Iraqi cities, villages and the desert and resorting to resistance tactics."<<

[Birthmark]

3. I've given this some thought.

I suspect that the Administration truly believed that they would be welcomed as liberators by everyone in Iraq, minus Saddam's boys, so there would be no danger in leaving such stockpiles of weaponry behind. They felt that all they had to do was get to Baghdad, remove Saddam, and everything would be fine.

[JHB]

4. Assault from who?

They weren't leaving any organized military resistance behind them. And His Rumfledship didn't expect (or allow for) any spontaneous resistance to arise, so to his mind once US troops passed through the area, it was "secure".

Yes, the military "would normally not leave their asses wide open for an assault from the rear", but the key word there is "normally". The decisions of a Rumsfeldized chain of command were not "normal".

[MacDo]

12. This is the only correct reply, IMHO. n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. I said this yesterday:

The job of infantry is to take ground and hold it. In that task is included the capture and securing men and material of the enemy. Traditionally, the single most important materials to be secured is war materials, such as arms and explosives.

But we did not do that. Why?

Because the troops on the ground were not ordered to do that. Their ordered purpose was to get to Baghdad and secure the oil ministry. Nothing else mattered to the civilian leadership.

All the talk of WMDs, CBWs, et al, ad nauseaum was lies.

[Rjnerd]

7. Because

Neither * or Rummy had any real combat experience. They didn't have Sgt Good-old-boy in Basic beating it into the granite between their ears, that you don't leave behind for the enemy anything they can use against you.

That place has blown up before, Once they verified that nothing toxic or glowing had been hidden in with the explosives, if they wern't going to guard it, they should have used one of their fancy new bombs, and made a noise that the natives would notice. (last time it exploded, the blast was heard 100 miles away).

[zbdent]

14. I'm 42, wasn't in the military, grew up watching TV

only hand-to-hand combat involving ordnance was with my gun ( ;P)

and I still understand that you guard your flank from an assault from the rear!

[Rjnerd]

15. Hell I learned it as a kid

From reading "Horatio Hornblower". And it was clear that the idea wasn't a new one.

[havocmom]

8. Beacuse all the military brass that insisted on being logical were purged

by Count Wolfowitz and his flunky Rumsfeld.

Can't have consideration for good logistics and securing assests an enemy could use slow down the march to a good photo-op. Hey, what did they do with that statue anyway? And where are all Chalai's gangmembers who played the part of the cheering thong in those photos? Anybody see if someone is selling explosives on e-bay this week?

[wurzel]

9. You need more boots on the ground to hold territory that to take it.

That is what these idiots did not understand. They thought that general who was talking about 300,000 troops mean't troops to defeat Saddam. He mean't they were needed to hold the ground taken while the rest of the army goes forward.

[Sentath]

16. I.O.W.

Insufficient brains directing (not leading, there is a difference) an insufficient number of insufficiently equipped troops.

*sigh*

Corporate raiding tactics do not work well in combat situations.

or

They tried to do there what they (thought they) had already accomplished here, a coup d'etat.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. not enough troops to do it

it's as simple as that.

[Bandit]

11. They truly believed Americans would be hailed as liberators

and we would be showered with flowers and there would be no need to secure anything other than the oil wells and pipelines. I am sure they had absolutely no plan what-so-ever to secure anything. that is a question needing asked. What exactly was our plan for securing these sites and how well has it been executed?

[DemocracyInaction]

13. You know what the bottom line in this whole thing is???

It all goes back to the insane, fucked up, childish stupid assumption that no one was going to oppose us but greet us with flowers. They never thought there would be any lingering opposition. They could not fathom though warned and warned and warned that Iraq would become a magnet for terrorists and their movement. THAT is the real big part of this story and the one that should be emphasized---it all goes back to a lunatic (and a dumb childish one at that) running the show. They were in too much of a hurry to take Baghdad and have their phoney statue photo op. THE WAR WAS NOTHING BUT ONE BIG FUCKING PHOTO OP FOR BUSH---and that's how he planned it.