The War Before The War

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

Iraq is pelted with propaganda that explodes from midair.
Poked, prodded and shot at, Saddam Hussein's nation is buzzed by fighter jets and bombarded by precision-guided munitions.

Special forces and spies stalk Iraqi chemical weapons sites.

Soldiers recruit Kurdish scouts and stake out runways and other avenues of assault.

Special psychological and electronic operations units jam and confuse Iraqi communications, dispatch e- mail to Iraqi generals urging their defection, even broadcast imitation Iraqi radio programs.

``You might say the war has already started,'' said Robert Andrews, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations who lives outside Washington.

Indeed, the first phase of a war against Iraq is under way, foreshadowing what may be the most innovative, stealthy and technologically sophisticated conflict in U.S. history.

While military forces routinely deceive, discourage and disrupt their expected enemies, this first wave in Iraq is part of a plan that promises - in the words of Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - a conflict that is ``much, much, much different.''

``There's a lot happening - everything from increased airstrikes to psychological operations, a very intense preparatory phase,'' said Andrews, who once oversaw such shadowy operations from the Pentagon.

Some call it a ``shadow war,'' others a ``paper war,'' a ``backdoor war'' or a ``war by stealth.''

Some resist calling it war at all, especially the U.S. military, whose officers and spokesmen repeatedly emphasize they are preparing, propagandizing and patrolling - not battling.

President Bush, they say, has not given a formal order for war.

Yet no one denies the activity and even sporadic combat that intensified last week.

``Clearly, we've been moving forward in all areas, and it's definitely an intense time for folks on the ground and in the air,'' said Maj. Brad Lowell, spokesman for the Tampa- based U.S. Central Command, whose forward headquarters in Qatar manages military operations against Iraq.

These operations, some so sensitive the military won't tell the types of fighters or weapons used, don't require formal public approval, declaration of war, or sanction by the United Nations.

But they may weigh heavily on the outcome.

``Even those of us who follow this on a daily basis only see the tip of the iceberg,'' said Loren Thompson, a Lexington Institute defense analyst with close ties to the Pentagon.

``There are dozens of missions under way involving scores of units ... If they are successful, it will be over fast,'' Thompson said.

Some hope it will be over before it begins.

Like many military leaders, Central Command's Gen. Tommy Franks is fond of quoting Sun Tze.

The ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher wrote: ``To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.''

Such concepts underlie modern military doctrine and operations.

Central Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command, also at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base, are said to relish the opportunity, after many years, to use new ``toys'' and techniques long available but viewed as too politically and militarily risky before the Sept. 11 attacks.

``There are a lot of things we could have been doing years ago,'' said Andrews. ``They can be highly, highly effective.''


The Shadow War Unfolds

Some of what's happening:

* The U.S. has pelted Iraq with bomblets that explode at 4,000 feet, releasing a fluttering paper blizzard of leaflets many Iraqis fear are laced with poison.

* Fighter jets on scores of sorties routinely crisscross Iraq's skies, using precision weapons to take out air defenses and missiles at an intensifying rate - sometimes after being shot at, sometimes causing casualties.

* Elite special forces units and spies - including more than 100 CIA agents - have combed the Iraqi landscape for Scud missile launchers, chemical weapons sites and caches of arms.

* Intelligence operatives have recruited scouts and defectors, and uncovered enemy tactics, such as a ploy by Saddam's paramilitary to commit atrocities on Iraqi people while wearing counterfeit U.S. and British military uniforms.

* Under darkness, Marines recently slipped through fences along the Kuwait-Iraq border, while in the Kurdish north convoys of Humvees ferried U.S. intelligence officers to late-night meetings near freshly repaired runways.

* On the Internet and from special aircraft above Iraq, an electronic assault jams communications and radar, redirects official conversations, eavesdrops, targets generals with e-mail invitations to defect, and broadcasts 1980s U.S. rock music and imitation Iraqi radio shows.

Such innovative shows of force and control within Iraq's borders are only the beginning.

One experimental weapon, known as a high power microwave, or ``E-Bomb,'' generates a short, intense energy pulse that produces a surge of thousands of volts over a wide area.

In theory, it could kill computers and other such devices, potentially shutting down an entire city without killing anyone.

Predicts Franks: ``There will be a lot of nonlethal sorts of weapons.''


Aim Is Surrender

For now, the goal of the preliminary warfare is to convince Saddam and his supporters they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by forcing a full confrontation: To win, as Franks' spokesman, James Wilkinson, puts it, ``without ever firing a shot.''

Showing force and control over large areas of Iraq, the U.S. has pushed the intended limits of the United Nations- sanctioned policing of the skies south of the 36th parallel and north of the 33rd, the ``no fly'' zones.

The military is bombing, targeting Iraq's air defenses, demonstrating superiority and practicing for the real war.

``Anything you take out now are things you don't have to think about later,'' said retired Air Force Col. John Warden, who engineered the 1991 air campaign against Iraq from an office in the Pentagon basement.

Plus, he added, ``You can make the actual attack look like normal procedure.''


The Electric War

Some U.S. aircraft are firing electrons, not munitions.

A modified C-130 cargo plane, known as the ``Compass Call,'' routinely jams Iraqi radar.

A high-flying RC-135 known as the ``Rivet Joint'' carries a crew of Arabic-speaking code- breakers, linguists, and other specialists who eavesdrop on Iraqi conversations.

They can redirect calls, jam broadcasts and satellite phones, and send out up to 800 watts of radio power.

Air Force Special Operations EC-130E jets, known as ``Commando Solo'' planes, can beam radio and television to sets below.

They could beam fake video, for instance, of Saddam's capitulation.

For now, military officials say, the prime TV programs are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's briefings from the Pentagon.

Radio programs are another matter.

The planes broadcast imitations of Iraqi programs such as the ``Voice of the Youth,'' run by Saddam's son Odai, but altered to fit the U.S. message, with some U.S. rock music from the 1980s thrown in.

``Soldiers of Iraq!'' said a Commando Solo broadcast. ``Do not let Saddam tarnish the reputation of soldiers any longer.

Saddam uses the military to persecute those who don't agree with his unjust agenda. Make the decision.''


Blizzards Of Paper

Then there's the paper front.

Forces under the direction of Central Command have dropped a blizzard of leaflets - more than 10 million - in more than six missions a month, 12 in the last four weeks alone.

Most are dropped in the probable path of U.S. forces advancing on Baghdad from Kuwait.

Some were dropped just 65 miles from Baghdad.

The leaflets are rolled into fiberglass canisters positioned within Vietnam War-era cluster bombs.

After being dropped from aircraft, each canister explodes at 4,000 feet, releasing 60,000 index card-sized leaflets.

Colorful, simple and resembling cartoons, the leaflets urge Iraqi soldiers to ``leave now and go home,'' to ``make a decision'' to abandon their posts, and to spurn orders to launch missiles or spill oil into the Persian Gulf.

Some warn soldiers their bunkers will be destroyed and they face death if they stay at their positions.

Others warn of the hazards to their lives for helping maintain communications networks.

``Do not use weapons of mass destruction,'' implored thousands of leaflets dropped Thursday.

``Swift and severe retribution'' would follow. If it happens, U.S. forces warned, ``commanders will be held accountable.''

Leaflets may not sound like much, but they are considered of such importance to U.S. war plans that Franks must look at each new design and sign off on it.

Such tactics and technology trace their lineage to the Chinese philosopher of some 2,500 years ago favored by Franks, and on through the conduct of conflicts in centuries since.


Iraqis Playing Tricks

Saddam's forces are, in turn, playing tricks. They are, for instance, spreading rumors that the leaflets contain dangerous substances.

There's also an attempt to acquire fake U.S. and British uniforms to make it appear as though eventual atrocities by Saddam's paramilitary units were committed by U.S. and British forces.

``Saddam is trying to cause not only confusion but fear and misinformation,'' said Wilkinson of Central Command.

[streetsoldier]

Sun-Tze may have had something there, but I think the Byzantine general Belisarius (serving under Emperor Justinian) said it better; "The truly successsful general is a man who follows the art of war all his life without ever having to fight a pitched battle."

A show of force on this border or that frontier, an arranged marriage, a spy paid for personal information regarding an enemy, the occasional cut throat...these were the tools favored then (and now, by some countries).

[mf_dolphin]

Sounds like Saddam is going to be a test bed again for us! I say pull out all the toys!! Inventory rotation time

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

I love the fact his people think we contaminated the leaflets and when they touch em they go bye-bye! heehee