2003-03-29, I read about the ferocious Battle of Nasiriya and knew from some of its details that there could be no real victory for the US/UK invasion forces. I wrote
Nasiriya was ugly, and it’s far from secure. Destroying several hundred civilian homes and dropping cluster bombs indiscriminately did not quell the guerilla resistance or cause the populace to expel their fighters. This illustrates the poverty of the assumption that removing key Baathist leaders will lead to a quick cessation of partisan resistance against the US/UK invaders.
Today I read that, apparently, Nasiriya demonstrated to at least one other person that the Iraq enterprise was a doomed folly.
If the details of what happened at Nasiriya had been gathered, recognized and analyzed more soberly early on, instead of trampled on in a rush of triumphalism, coalition forces might have learned useful lessons for the reconstruction of Iraq: the limits of military power, the importance of a proper understanding of the complexity of a place and its people, the perils of underestimating an enemy … The battle of Nasiriya taught that there was, contrary to first appearances, no simple route to Baghdad. It should also serve to remind those in Washington that there will be no simple route out of it.
Related
