GROUND ZERO, New York City, Apr. 16--The global military world shuddered as America's precision military tactics emasculated the Iraqi military in less than thirty days and produced only 114 American deaths, the majority of which were non-combat based.
     

       One of the biggest spectators of America's swift victory was Russia.   Russia led the pack as the most frustrated and disappointed nations over the quick collapse of the Iraqi military.   The reason--Russia trained and supported a large portion of the Iraqi military.   The defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces was a signal of the inherent weakness in Russia's own military, and a sign of its fallibility were it to engage any hostile force.
       "The Iraqi Army was a replica of the Russian Army, and its defeat was not predicted by our generals," says Vitaly Shlykov, a former deputy defense minister of Russia.
       Since the collapse of communism in 1989, the Russian military has been on a steady decline.   Its current 1.2 million force is half its original size.   Conscripted members of the military earn 100 rubles a month, roughly $3, and more than one-third of the officers live below the poverty line.

        The big blow to Russia's ego in Iraq was a false belief that Soviet strategies were effective.  Early in the Iraq war, the Russian online newspaper Gazeta.ru reported that two retired Soviet generals may have played a key role in designing Iraq's defenses. The paper published photos of Vladimir Achalov, an expert in urban warfare, and Igor Maltsev, a specialist in air defenses, receiving medals from Iraq's defense minister two weeks before the war began. Russian TV later quoted General Maltsev as saying "the American invaders will be buried in the streets of Baghdad."
       Instead, Russian military analysts stood with mouths agape as military history was written before their eyes.   Fast, mobile, surgical U.S. attacks crippled Iraq's leadership in days rather than weeks.    The hand-to-hand, door-to-door combat Russia counted on to slow down American forces and drag the war into a prolonged battle of wills between the Iraqi people and Western culture, failed to materialize.  In its place were thousands of liberated Iraqis pulling down statues of Saddam and cheering in the streets.

       If there was one major benefit for Russian hawks, it was in the boost in arms sales.  Reports that Iraqi forces used Russian-made, laser-guided antitank missiles to destroy several Abrams tanks during the US attack has led to a surge of orders for the weapons by worldwide buyers. This could boost profits for Russian armsmakers, who are already receiving inquiries from Syria and Iran, said General Vladimir Shamanov, who commanded Russian troops in two Chechnya wars.
      At the same time, Russia's deployment of arms to Iraq has strained U.S.-Russian relations.   President Bush warned Russia about selling Iraq radar jamming equipment as well as providing arms support.
      But the lesson to Russia--a well as other nations who had hoped America would get entangled in a quagmire similar to Vietnam--is that modern U.S. warfare is swift, efficient and deadly.   Abandoning the old paradigm of heavy troop forces on the ground, the U.S. has proved the refined 21st Century mobile strike forces similar to the model General George S. Patton used in World War II where he went around various targets to attack key, central strongholds.  Despite initial critics who claimed the tactics wouldn't work, the U.S. stuck with its plan.  It worked.

        Nations such as Russia with a population larger than the United States, are being forced to revamp their entire military strategy.  Last week, the independent Council on Foreign and Defense Policy - a group of top Russian military experts and former policymakers, met to assess the implications of the US triumph in Iraq for Russia. Their conclusion: The Kremlin must drop all post-Soviet pretense that Russia remains a superpower, and make rebuilding and redesigning the nation's military forces a top priority. "We cannot afford to postpone this any longer," Boris Nemtsov, head of the liberal Union of Right Forces, told the meeting.
       There is another student of the Iraqi war glued to the Iraqi war maps-- North Korea.   Prior to the war, North Korea was banging its chest and challenging the United States, refusing to meet in multinational discussions to resolve its nuclear production.   It wanted one-on-one meetings with the U.S., a sign of its negotiating power.   The U.S. refused to meet with North Korea as an equal force.
      Today, North Korea has agreed to meet with the U.S. and China, a victory for American diplomacy.   The victory in Iraq tells North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il, he could face the same fate as Saddam Hussein should he push too many U.S. buttons.

      The pre-emptive strike diplomacy--a new and bold approach to rogue nation management--is quieting the roar of Terror-inclined lions.
      Today, oil pipelines flowing to Syria from Iraq were turned off--which some consider an act of aggression against a nation accused of harboring Terrorists.  Syria is considered the next most likely target of America's pre-emptive diplomacy.
      In a nutshell, the world is dazed by America's success in Iraq.

      Anti-war protestors in both America and France are as confused as Russian military strategists over the speed of victory.   Protestors had planned on a long attack on America's underbelly--chewing on the criminality of American leadership and likening the war to the quagmire in Vietnam.   No one was more surprised than the anti-American, anti-war protestors who stood in shock and awe watching Iraqi citizens dancing in the streets, jerking down statues of Saddam Hussein, and young children kissing Marines as the city was liberated.
       Nothing could be more frustrating to someone seeking to bury America in the bile of protest than a swift victory that limited the number of casualties on both sides, and, to top it off, to see the people leaping for joy over the freedom and liberty American brought to them.  
       All these Vultures of War starved over Iraq.
       Russia had hoped America would be blasted out of the streets of Baghdad as the Russians had been ripped and lacerated in Chechnya.  
       North Korea wanted the U.S. to be humiliated so it could swagger and boast and call the shots on negotiating its "evil axis" status.
       Anti-war and anti-American protestors hoped for a Vietnam quagmire to prove America was seeking a "war for oil."  They were thwarted by a cheering, liberated population pulling down statues and shouting freedom.
       These Vultures of War found no free lunches in Iraq.  

       Syria's oil dried up.  Russia's underestimation of American strategy backfired.   North Korea did an about face.  American protestors fell silent, Voices muffled in the wake of victory.
       It would be easy for me to gloat.
       As a TerrorHunter, I know better.
       Gloating over a victory in Iraq is not much different than being a Vulture of War.
       War is not a moment of victory or defeat.
       War is a symbol of Complacency.
       War is all about the people of a nation and a world giving up their duty of Citizens of Vigilance to powers above them--to the military and political leaders.  War is about relinquishing the responsibility to protect one's children, and one's Children's Children's Children from harm.
        War is letting Tyrants of Terrorism take command of a society.
         War is kowtowing to Tyrants of Terrorism such as Syria or North Korea.
         We forget that war is the end of the road.  It is the final straw.  It when the failure of Vigilance is most apparent.
         War is not the result of preemptive attacks, as some would have it sound.
         War is the result of not being preemptive.
         Anti-War protestors need to think in terms of Anti-Complacency.
         If the Anti-War protestors were to should out cries against Complacency, there wouldn't be any wars.
        Complacency, giving up the fight to maintain peace, creates wars.
        It's when you turn your head to what's right and capitulate to the enemy.
        It's when you know the Beast of Terror is stalking you and your children and the world, and do nothing, that War really begins.

        The United Nations is not a Peacekeeping body, it is a war-making body.  By the nature of its Complacency, by its unwillingness to act, by its nature to wait until the smoke turns into fire, it is a fuel starter of war, it is the fodder of war, for it is a United Nations of Complacency rather than a United Nations of Vigilance.
         Vigilance requires pre-emptive strikes against Complacency.
          The U.S. struck Complacency in the heart.
         It kicked away the foundations of Terrorism.   It sent Terrorism crashing to the ground.
         Still, the Vultures of War sit on their stoops, necks craned, hissing and cawing, trying to find fault in acts of liberation, in actions of Vigilance.
         France, Germany and Russia recently met without the U.S. or Britain to talk about the reconstruction of Iraq.    Three nations who chose Complacency over Vigilance now want to grab the reins of reconstruction. 
          These are the true Vultures of War.

          They want the glory without the blood.
          They want the fruits without the sweat.
          What they need to learn is what Russia knows--that War today is not a reaction to Terrorism, but a preemption of it.
          America knows that.
          America knows Vigilance isn't about waiting for things to get so bad that disaster forces action, but to act before disaster.
          I hope the Vultures of War starve a slow and painful death.
          And I hope the Sentinels of Vigilance keep their eyes to the horizon, and their willingness to be more pre-emptive than reactive to the dangers of the Beast of Terror.

April 15--Women of War--Heroes Of Vigilance

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