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Analysis : Deficiencies In The U.S. Military's Ability To Fight An Urban War
Morning Edition: October 23, 2002
 As U.S. Prepares, Urban Warfare not a Strength
BOB EDWARDS, host:
A war to overthrow Saddam Hussein might require US troops to fight in the streets of Baghdad. Iraqi officials have suggested they may pull their troops back into the capital and wait there for invading American forces. Urban war would be a challenging mission. Some advantages of US technology could be offset by the difficulties of fighting in and around tall buildings. The risk of casualties would be high. The US military has drafted new guidelines for operations in a place like Baghdad, but recent war fighting simulations underscore the dangers inherent in an urban battle zone. From the Pentagon, NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
TOM GJELTEN reporting:
The US military has not had a lot of experience with urban warfare, not much at least since World War II when the idea was basically to pound a city into submission. The wars in Korea and Vietnam largely took place in the countryside or the jungle. US troops did invade Panama City in 1989 in order to arrest the dictator Manuel Noriega. And in 1993, US Army Rangers in Somalia got tied down in a bloody fight in the streets of Mogadishu. But the prospect of all-out combat in downtown Baghdad is something else entirely. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Russell Glenn, now analyzing urban warfare at the Rand Corporation, says US commanders are thinking hard about a Baghdad mission.
Lieutenant Colonel RUSSELL GLENN (Retired; US Army): We in fact--we being the American military--have, in the last five years, realized that this is an area that does require a lot more in the way of focus. We've moved from both the Marines and the Army having doctrine before 1998 that was essentially based on the way urban operations were conducted in World War II to something considerably more advanced. There's a much increased consciousness that this is an area that can pose considerable problems to the United States military.
GJELTEN: That consciousness has come in part from recent war simulations, where US commanders get hints of what urban warfare might be like. One especially alarming study was just completed this month, a simulation called Project Lincolnia, directed by retired Marine Corp Colonel Gary Anderson, who's now at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. A key finding, if the bad guys in a city have access to shoulder-fired missiles, as the Iraqis do, lots of American helicopters could be shot down.
Colonel GARY ANDERSON (Retired, US Marines): The implication that we got from the simulations that we ran is that helicopters are very vulnerable in that environment, in an urban setting. We saw casualties ranging from 50 percent to 75 percent.
GJELTEN: Anderson briefed senior Pentagon officials this month on the results of his war game. One of his recommendations was that the Pentagon build more unmanned aircraft, such as the Predator, armed for urban warfare with missiles that can be fired by remote control. But that would be a big departure from current US military plans, and for now the US military seems intent on sticking with helicopters in urban situations. Russell Glenn says the lesson to be drawn from war-fighting experiments should not be that helicopters have no place in urban operations, but that commanders should work harder at finding ways to make helicopter use less risky.
Lt. Col. GLENN: It is the wrong question to ask whether or not we can use in urban environments. The correct question is how do we employ rotary wing aircraft during urban operations?
GJELTEN: In fact, urban war fighting challenges like this one are now getting a lot of attention at the Pentagon. Just this last month the US military adopted new doctrinal guidelines for urban war fighting. One principle is to avoid direct combat in cities as much as possible. When urban warfare is necessary, US forces should go selectively after what are called decisive points, key locations rather than the city as a whole. But are such innovations enough to prepare US troops for the dangers that may await them in a place like Baghdad? Gary Anderson is concerned that lessons from war games like the one he just directed are not being taken seriously enough.
Col. ANDERSON: To my knowledge, nothing that has come out of urban experimentation in the past six years has actually found its way into doctrine or programmatics or the buying of things, particularly down at the service level, at the Army and the Marine Corp level, I don't think there have been any major doctrinal changes that have come out over the course of the past six years.
GJELTEN: The test will come in practice. Should a war in Iraq lead to fighting in Baghdad, it'll be a learning experience like none the US military has had in the last 50 years. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, the Pentagon.
EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
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