Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: mrchards@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Matt Richards )
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Lessons Learned
Keywords: lessons, grenada, panama
Message-ID: <12601@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 27 Dec 89 03:40:47 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 28
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: mrchards@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Matt Richards )
Ed Luttwak was on the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour the other
night.  He said that we had learned a few things from
Grenada.  In Grenada, we used a "Normandy" style invasion,
landing at the edges and fighting our way to the middle.
In Panama, we conducted a coup de main, in which one
strikes "everywhere" instantaneously in overwhelming force.

We still get low marks for not knocking out the radio station
right away.  There was no agreement on whether Noriega should
have been captured prior to the start of the invasion.  Some
feel that this would not have been possible while maintaining
any element of surprise.  There were also comments to the
effect that special forces should get more of a say in the
planning of these operations.

Mr. Luttwak makes a strong case 
for reforming the structure of the US military, as he feels that
unified commands force too much compromise.  At this point,
it appears that at least a passable
job was done in planning and preparations for this mission.
-- 
Matt Richards    WILL-AM/FM/TV      Urbana, IL
Center for Trivial Systems Research, University of Illinois
mrchards@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
"That's not a mistake, that's our system!"