Is Rumsfeld Out of High Tech War?

‘Rumsfeld to Powell?’

Discord on deciding the time of U.S. ground troop’s advance to Baghdad is sharply escalating between the Pentagon and the army. The evaluation on the “Rumsfeld way of high tech war” which has been implemented for the past 13 days is now at the center of disagreement. The time of Baghdad advance will be decided by the result of the evaluation.

The Rumsfeld way of war which is a future war strategy based on the “reformation of U.S. forces” has been carried out for several years by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

It emphasizes combat by precision-guided missiles, air power and Special Operations troops reducing the number of ground troops.

However as the war comes to a standstill, the U.S. Army now wants to return to the old strategy which emphasizes building overwhelming fire power and soldier numbers, the Washington Post and other major U.S. newspapers reported on Tuesday.

In other words, they want to destroy the Republican Guard completely and conduct a land battle in earnest after the 4th Infantry Division and other troops join U.S. forces in Iraq.

Colin Powell, a rival of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the 1999 Gulf war, implemented this strategy during the first Gulf War.

Secretary of State Colin Powell did not directly comment on this, but said, “I trained them” when asked by media on his evaluation of army commanders.

Army commanders’ voices seem to have become more persuasive as the “Shock and Fear” effect of high tech weapons has not seemed to be as effective as expected.

The U.S. government and media are also frequently pointing out, “victory can be eventually only achieved by ‘fire power, military power’ even in futuristic high tech war.”

However, some of Rumsfeld’s aides are saying that all-out war against the Republican Guard would commence this week. At the army’s request, it will, however, take a few weeks to prepare for the final push into Baghdad. They also have claimed that the Republic Guard has weakened by half.

One colonel located in Iraq in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday compared Rumsfeld to Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who was in charge of Vietnam War operations ignoring the political and military reality of the enemy.

sechepa@donga.com