From: John Grigg (starman2100@lycos.com)
Date: Sat Apr 19 2003 - 15:17:23 MDT
--- spike66 <spike66@attbi.com> wrote:
> Can we not extrapolate and
> realize that all traditional warfare is hopeless and
> stupid? Should not all political conflict take the
> form of economic struggle, much like the way one
> large
> corporation makes war on its competitors? Humanity
> is truly on the eve of construction.
Adrian Tymes wrote:
I was doing some idle musing on this, and I have come
to the conclusion that, barring significant advances in technology, the kind of military it would take to
defeat a determined US invasion, would require the kind of industrial support, and thus the kind of country, that the US would tend not to invade in the first place. (Or, at least, which would be very low on the list of countries to invade.)
(end)
Adrian, if I understand you right, you are saying a nation with a fairly powerful military and industrial base such as Russia or China would be offlimits, while a smaller and less technically advanced & no nukes ready to go nation, such as Iraq, would be vulnerable to us.
Even with our current fairly sophisticated level of technology, could we defeat the Vietnamese NVA and Viet Cong if we were fighting that war today (and they were getting outside superpower help)? And even if they did not get massive outside assistance, I still doubt we could avoid being utterly worn down by guerilla tactics combined with the dense jungle terrain which gives such great cover for them.
But perhaps with most of our infantry armed with night vision goggles, mine sniffing equipment deployed at the platoon patrol level, and satellite tracking at a highly sophisticated degree, we would have a much better chance.
Add in weapon systems which might be here in twenty years or less, like "Iron Man" type battle armor or insect-like robot hunter/killer's (airborne and ground), and we could really shake up an enemy who relies on guerilla tactics and dense jungle terrain.
But they might gain access to battle armor of their own, and use quantity vrs. quality, though this might not hold up for them. And cheap but plentiful robot drones might also be used by them, possibly even acquired by capturing some of those we deployed against them.
Remember, morale is not something to be forgotten, but a highly advanced tech which gives us the advantage would boost our morale, as it certainly did in the latest war with Iraq.
I would rather that the U.S. never fights another war, but if it did, I would like to see a major jungle conflict where we could further dispel the ghosts of Vietnam by defeating a determined combatant who uses the strategies and tactics which worked so well for the Vietnamese communists.
What do the rest of you think?
best wishes,
John Grigg
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