U.S. Forces "How Come It`s So Easy?"

No major battle has not yet commenced by Sunday, the eighteenth day since the coalition force invaded Iraq. Iraqi force`s resistance has not been as strong as it was expected. Finally some people started to suggest that the war in Iraq might end without any major battles.

Is Iraq really that helpless or is it just making a strategic retreat for Baghdad street-to-street fighting? Before the outbreak of war, the number of Iraqi ground troops of 17 divisions was over 300,000 soldiers. The number of Elite Guard was over 80,000 to 90,000; The Republican Guard consisted with 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers of 6 divisions, and the Special Republican Guard that provides security to President Saddam Hussein had 15,000 soldiers and in addition, Special Security units had 5,000 soldiers.

Meanwhile the 3rd Infantry Division that is the main force has only 15,000 soldiers and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has merely 46,000. The number of tanks also outnumbers that of U.S; Iraqi forces have 22,000 tanks while U.S. forces have only 384 M1A1 Abrams battle tank. Of course the fire power and performance of Iraqi weapons are far behind of those of U.S. weapons but Iraqi forces` weak resistance in south central Iraq was a surprise.

U.S. the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Marine Division that has been advancing toward southwest has been fighting with invisible enemies since the beginning of war. They have been however merely sporadically attacked by paramilitaries since they departed from northern desert of Kuwait until they reached Salman Park, reported the Washington Post on Sunday. The BBC however pointed out that “nonresistance of Iraqi troops is a big mystery” reminding many possible scenarios.

According to U.S. forces, 2,500 soldiers of the Republic Guard have surrendered to U.S. Marines on Saturday. Some of them were however killed by bombardment and an artillery attack. U.S. forces also claimed to have killed over 1,000 Iraqi soldiers.

Another possibility is that Iraqi forces have lost their fighting spirit. According to the AFP, a team of U.S. Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) has found enough arms and explosives in two weeks to support a small-scale civil war. In four separate finds, the team found 658 Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers, 950 mortars, 414 grenades, machine guns 580,000 rounds, etc. “It is obvious that many did not have the will to follow their commanders and had abandoned their weapons,” reported the AFP. The fact that Iraqi forces did not fire antiaircraft cannons despite a massive Baghdad air raid on Saturday support the possibility of Iraqi forces’ losing their fighting spirit.

However, the number of dead or surrendered the Iraqi Guard soldiers that U.S. forces claim is yet a small portion of the total Guards. Hence, there is speculation that the real battle has not yet begun and it will cost a lot of coalition forces` damage to occupy Baghdad. Iraqi forces would not surrender until they are convinced that Iraqi regime will collapse, reported the BBC.

Finally, it is still doubtful whether Iraq will use bio-chemical weapons. The U.S. has been claiming that Iraq has bio-chemical weapons and it will eventually use them. The U.S. however has not found any of them.

It is expected that Iraq will not use bio-chemical weapons, even if they have them, since if they should use them, Iraq would have more strategic damage than benefit losing its justification of war.

Eun-Taek Hong euntack@donga.com