Siege Warfare
So I notice more people are realising that the US has been sold a dud by the defence contractors with their increasingly expensive and computerized ordinance. Precision bombing has not impelled the Iraqis to rise up as one against their government and it seems to be having little effect on the battle readiness of the dug-in Iraqis… Pentagon claims of “80% degraded” notwithstanding. They made these claims about the Viet Cong as well, only to discover that dug-in troops can endure years of punishment. In World War 1, millions of troops endured months or years of artillery bombardment (and chemical warfare) while maintaining a distressing battle readiness. The Serbs demonstrated in Kosovo that their military could elude sustained NATO bombardment through deception and camoflage. So as in so many wars it comes down to grunts on the ground, teenagers with weapons killing each other in hand-to-hand combat, and a siege. It’s important to realise that technologically outmatched armies often resort to effective though underrated defences. Here’s some tips from last year’s news, Osama:
“I will recall one part of such a great battle to prove how much they (American soldiers) are cowards, in one side, and how effective are these trenches in depleting them from another side. We were 300 mujahideen (holy fighters). We were digging 100 ditches spread over an area of one mile only. The range is one ditch for every three brothers. The American forces were bombing us with smart bombs, cluster bombs, and bombs which invade caves. B-52 aircraft were flying every two hours over our heads and throwing each time, 20 to 30 bombs.
“The conclusion is an enormous defeat for the coalition of the international evil with all its forces facing such a small group of mujahideen, 300 only in ditches in an area of one mile, in a temperature of 10 degrees below zero. The result of that battle was six per cent injuries among the individuals, whom we ask God to consider as martyrs, and injuries inside the ditches were two per cent only, thank GodSo go and dig many trenches as it was mentioned before in the holy book, ‘Take the earth as your shelter.’ Such a way will deplete all your enemy reserves in a few months.
“We advise about the importance of drawing the enemy into long, close and exhausting fighting, taking advantage of camouflaged positions in plains, farms, mountains and cities. The enemy fears the most the town fights and street fights. Such fighting would cause the enemy huge losses of souls. We stress the importance of martyrdom operations against the enemy”
Earlier here.