For the Defense (Dept.)
In which I try to make a case for the “rolling start” (if you believe it really is a rolling start and not just “oops! better send some more troops!”). Tacitus, who is doing some good analysis of the war, notes that the force levels currently in Iraq violate the principle of mass. To wit, “they cannot win the war,” our four-odd divisions. So why start the war when you have to bring reinforcements from overseas before the big push?
The best answer I can come up with is that, by engaging the enemy, you force the enemy to concentrate in defense, which makes it easier to bomb them. That softens them up by the time you have enough troops in theater to attack in force. Had this war begun with a pure bombing campaign, wouldn’t it have been much harder to identify ground force targets? Wouldn’t the Iraqis have an easier time hiding their army?
That’s the best I can do.
