Cobra+II

BERNARD TRAINOR AND MICHAEL GORDON: COBRA II

Condensed class schedule:


 * WEEK #1**

Tuesday: Chapter 1: Snowflakes from the Secretary (pages 3-26) Chapter 2: The Generated Start (27-42) Chapter 3: Smaller is Beautiful (43-62)

Thursday: Chapter 4: The Other Side of the Hill (63-85) Chapter 5: Back to the Future (86-108)


 * WEEK #2**

Tuesday: Chapter 6: 'Round and 'Round We Go

Thursday: Chapter 8: A Little Postwar Planning


 * WEEK #3**

Tuesday: Chapter 13: Task Force Tarawa

Thursday: Chapter 14: Vampire 12


 * WEEK #4**

Tuesday: Chapter 15: A Sanctuary for the Fedayeen Chapter 16: Back to the Drawing Board

Thursday: Chapter 18: The Red Zone


 * WEEK #5**

Tuesday: Chapter 19: Thunder Run Chapter 20: The Accidental Victory

Thursday: Chapter 21: The Second Battle for Baghdad Chapter 22: Saddam's Great Escape


 * WEEK #6**

Tuesday: Chapter 23: Hello, I Must Be Going

Thursday: Chapter 24: Starting From Scratch Epilogue Afterward


 * Detailed Reading Schedule**:

Page numbers are keyed to the paperback version.

Big issues we want to address during this semester: 1) What lessons have we learned from the Iraq invasion that will help in the next war? What have we learned about our political process? 2) What assumptions did the U.S. have going in to Iraq war? How well do these assumptions hold up under scrutiny? 3) Is Rumsfeld's "transformation" a failed policy? Is it applicable in theory but misguided in application? How has the new SecDef reverse the policy? 4) What things can we learn to help us in an executive career? I want to bring my background prior to becoming a professor to bear to aid you as a future executive.

We are going to read the Gordon and Trainor book very closely. It provides an extended case study of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. For each chapter, try to pull out the major names, places, events, and U.S. weaponry. I would like you to read the entire chapter. If for some reason you don't take the time to read the complete chapter, please concentrate on the following pages and issues. Learn to read carefully. To do so you must mark up your book. Also, close reading can help our writing: topic sentences, prose style, transitions, punctuation.

Overview map of the region Overview map of Iraq Significant Army-Marine engagements Northern Front
 * Maps**

Connection between our invasion and the current insurgency Hubris: what is it; how was it demonstrated Cultural ignorance:
 * Foreword**

3-11 What was Rumsfeld's vision of military transformation Why was he and Pres. Bush on the same wave length? How to take charge as a new boss: Rumsfeld as an example "The Pentagon was a threat to defense of America" 11-17 What was the pre-9/11 approach to Iraq How did decision makers see results the Gulf War of 1991? 18-20 How did 9/11 change the paradigm 20 Defense Policy Board Our first introduction to Ahmed Chalabi 21-22 Third Army; V Corps; CENTCOM—what do these mean? 24-26 Planning process: Rumsfeld's iterative model; what do you think?
 * Chapter 1: Snowflakes from the Secretary** (pages 3-26)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

27-28 Tommy Franks: his background; his relationship with Rumsfeld 29-30 What Iraq plans were already on the table Who is Anthony Zinni OPLAN 1003-98: what was it; what was its fate; what about occupation phase Desert Crossing. Read pages 668-673. 32 What does it mean to change the paradigm; think outside the box What if most of the box may be ok 35 How would you modify Franks' poem to apply to yourself 37-40 Newt Gingrich and Doug Macgregor; their role; their reception
 * Chapter 2: The Generated Start** (27-42)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

43-45 Vice President Cheney; bio; operating style 45-49 Cheney's trip to the Middle East; objectives; results 50 Diverting assets from Afghanistan to Iraq. Made sense then. 53-54 JCS; Title 10 of Goldwater Nichols; does it make sense to you 59 Bush: no war plans on my desk." Is it lying if you preserve secrecy? 61-62 British reaction to what they learned of our planning
 * Chapter 3: Smaller is Beautiful** (43-62)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

What can we learn from Saddam to prepare for next wars: North Korea, Iran. 63-71 His fears of internal revolt and external attack from Iran. Deterrence by doubt. Are other countries doing similarly? 72-74 Origins of our preventive war doctrine 78 State Dept and Iraqis would take care of aftermath 80 Stay below CNN line; Brits punctiliousness to international law 81 Powell warns the President: it will break and you will own it 84-85 U.S. assumptions: act alone if necessary; Iraqi opposition; implant democracy; Iraq military and police to be used 85 Bush did not ask "How do we run Iraq."
 * Chapter 4: The Other Side of the Hill** (63-85)

88 Why was this operation called Cobra II. 105-108 Internal Look. Biden and Hagel Not much in this book about Congress. How much could you risk telling Congress anyhow?
 * Chapter 5: Back to the Future** (86-108)

109-115 Pros and cons of Rumsfeld micromanaging troop levels Source of assertion: "we gave them everything they requested" Off-ramping caused later problems Dependence of US military on reservists (and National Guard) Newt Gingrich visits Kuwait. What were his reactions? 116-118 Opinion of General Shinseki about troop levels needed 118-120 Comparisons to other stability operations 120-124 Use of exiles; Chalabi again. 127 Jordan's objections due to its Palestinian population 127-132 Turkey's worry over the Kurdish situation; its reluctance to help us 133-134 Views of Joseph Collins
 * Chapter 6: 'Round and 'Round We Go** (109-134)

Compare Saddam's reactions to an attack with how North Korea or Iran may try to thwart us. What are their military capabilities? How would we know what they think? Do we have any human intelligence coming from either place? 134-136 Deterrence by doubt; worried more about Iran (1980-1988 war) 139-140 Protection against internal coups; less worry about U.S. invasion 140-145 We won't devote much time to WMD or supposed link to Al Qaeda 142 Dark interpretation of Red Line was probably valid at the time 147 Timing of the vote to go to war. 148-149 National Intelligence Estimates. Their role and utility. 149-150 Why not Iran or Korea. Iraq hostile but vulnerable. 151-154 Powell's preparation for his speech to the U.N.
 * Chapter 7: The Red Line** (135-157)

Either the President, VP, or NSC should have been on top of overall Iraq planning. 159 Zinni and Franks never talked to each other after 2000 CENTCOM official knew nothing of Zinni's plan No one knew who was in charge of post-war phase 158-171 Let's go through these pages in detail. They set the stage. 171-172 Put yourself in the place of Jay Garner. How would you feel? 173-174 Rumsfeld's speech. Lays out his approach to Iraq. Was Afghanistan really a useful model for Iraq? 176 How could we have got the projected costs so far wrong? Deep tax cuts affect the guns versus butter debate. 176-183 These pages are critical. Views of Garner, Mayer, Perito, etc. 184 De-Baathification 186 Feith's views (at this point) on using Iraqi military 186-187 Against getting the UN involved
 * Chapter 8: A Little Postwar Planning** (158-187)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

190 Reconstruction of Iraq would be self-financing 193 Richard Perle's remarks 196 Commander should be told about the strike 200-202 Great example of Murphy's Law. 203 Why Saddam wore glasses for his speech
 * Chapter 9: Dora Farms** (188-207)

218-219 Lt. Childers 221 Iraqi oil managers on the job. Iraqi oil infrastructure in its normal state of disrepair.
 * Chapter 10: The Opening Gambit** (208-225)

231-232 Comparison of the role of CIA: Afghanistan versus Iraq 233 Planning snafu; how does this happen 240-241 Air war was a complicated ballet. Can we count on such access as this in future wars. 242 Another snafu: tanker refueling system not compatible with planes.
 * Chapter 11: Objective Liberty** (226-243)

246 Terrain; did we plan for the problems Accidents; did we plan for them 253 Enemy fighting tactics
 * Chapter 12: Everyone Loves a Parade** (244-266)

Why is it called Tarawa? 270 Pushed men really hard. Move on adrenaline Mr. Toad's Wild Ride 273-274 Jessica Lynch story 274-288 Shootout video: Ambush Alley. Marshy sewage area; wires interfered with radio transmission 290 Asymmetrical warfare. Low tech. Sand table. 295 Apodaca's assessment of battle and of Fedayeen.
 * Chapter 13: Task Force Tarawa** (267-295)

297-299 Apache helicopters held out of Kosovo. Want to get into this one. Reminds me of Canadians at Dieppe in WWII 300-301 Good lesson in motivating your troops 303 Expectations of the enemies of each other 307 More snafus. 308 Iraqis had been planning how to combat our air power. 311 Last paragraph. How can we have poor maps. Google Earth. 312 Woman pilot. Compare to Cynthia Duckworth, lost both legs, criticized by Republicans as a "cut and run" person when she campaigned for Congress. 313-317 Williams and Young, call sign Vampire 12, captured. 319-320 Mistakes made
 * Chapter 14: Vampire 12** (296-320)

322 National Training Center in California. In Barstow, I think. 323 Why does it take so long for us to train an Iraqi soldier. How much training did the Fedayeen get? 324 Why did his map show incorrect number of bridges 328 Desperate fanaticism versus nihilistic impulse for self-destruction Did we anticipate sandstorms (times of year?) in our war games. 331 Would North Korea be reluctant to destroy their bridges 332 Post-war problems with MLRS cluster bombs 335 Why aren't we # 1 in radio communications 340 Are traffic jams predicted in war games 342-343 Great summary of the strengths of both sides in the war. 344-345 Joint warfare in name only. Similar problems in Homeland Security and National Intelligence Directorate. Also company mergers.
 * Chapter 15: A Sanctuary for the Fedayeen** (321-345)

347 Franks: Fedayeen only a speed bump on way to Baghdad 349-350 Franks saw this war through the prism of Afghanistan 357-358 Blue Force Tracker drives the CINC (General Franks) 358-361 Chalabi again; what do you make of this episode. Should we just have let Chalabi run the country? Maybe we would be out of there by now. 361 Barry McCaffrey. On MSNBC often. Briefed Bush 43 prior to surge. 362 "We gave the commanders everything they requested." 362-363 Macgregor memo. Read the full memo (page 631). 365 Giving up ground on which a Marine died. Complete the mission. 370 Be a war-fighter not an eater and s. 371 Nobody argued openly with Franks. Opinion on casualties.
 * Chapter 16: Back to the Drawing Board** (346-372)

This chapter deals with Special Operations units operating in western Iraq. We will focus only on the activity in the Kurdish part of Iraq. 384-393 Two main groups of Kurds. Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan "Economy of force"
 * Chapter 17: Team Tank** (373-393)

This chapter discusses Saddam's plans to defend Baghdad. 394-396 U.S. faked out Saddam pretty completely. 399 No maps prepared Marcone for what he found. Why not? 400 Assault counted on a few men paddling across river in rubber boat 402 Middle paragraph: "much vaunted theory of transformation" 406 The idea looked good on paper, but route ran into a swamp. 408 Baghdad in darkness. Electrical grid gave out 410-411 U.S. operations at the Baghdad airport. Medal of Honor 416-417 Fedayeen tactics 418 Iraqi bureaucracy at work; foreign fighters passports stamped 419 Americans first glimpse of looting. What could this unit have done about it anyhow? 421 Marine colonel relieved from command. Mattis asked him if he had previous combat experience. Funny. Man's wife already had calls from Larry King and Paula Zahn 424 Communications incompatible between Army and Marines. Why? No real joint operations.
 * Chapter 18: The Red Zone** (394-427)

Map at front of book: 3rd Infantry Division Thunder Runs Try to get a video clip. Track Perkins and embedded reporter. 428 Precedents for urban warfare 429 City divided into 55 zones. Is that grid still being used? 430 Good advice. Those who paused, lost. 431-434 Let's go through these pages in detail: the decision; Perkins himself 434 Like an enemy tank column driving up the 210 freeway. 443 They never practiced jumping barriers like that before. 444 Embedded reporter. What an experience for him. We could take an entire class to discuss how the military worked with the media.
 * Chapter 19: Thunder Run** (428-445)

Map at front of book: 3rd Infantry Division Thunder Runs 446 Iraq response. Saddam's reaction. Baghdad Bob bubble head dolls 447 Boldness once again. Go downtown and stay overnight. 451 Perkins never got the message to stop at the intersection. Right! 453-454 His commander reinforced his success. 458-459 Mission could have been a disaster. Command center destroyed. 460 Resupply trucks could have been wiped out running the gauntlet. 461 Excellent situation update 464 Chaplain's dilemma. Cook-off feature of grenades. 466-467 Ted Koppel was with that unit. Check his dispatches. 467 How to tell who are the jihadist leaders.
 * Chapter 20: The Accidental Victory** (446-469)

470 No plan for what to do after Baghdad reached. 471 "Had to tell the general something" 472 Babylonians hadn't found crossing points 2,000 years ago! Mother of all traffic jams. Was this in war games? 480-482 Palestine Hotel friendly fire mistake. Check news reporting. 484 Speed of attack outran intelligence data. Transformation not ok. 489 Marines reaction to the looting they observed. 490 Saddam's statue is down. Check news reporting. 490 Cultural issues. Go kiss the colonel. Why were Padilla's maps not detailed enough?
 * Chapter 21: The Second Battle for Baghdad** (470-496)

497-499 Description of Anbar province Anbar was an "economy of force" operation from the start 503-506 Rescue of American prisoners 510-513 Two approaches by U.S. in Tikrit. Which do you prefer? 513-520 U.S. approach in Kurdish area 513 Talabini is now President of Iraq. 517 "Where is that? What are we supposed to do? Who's 5102?" 519 General Petraeus. He is the new CENTCOM commander. 520-523 Brits operate in southeast Iraq
 * Chapter 22: Saddam's Great Escape** (497-523)

525 Iraq war like a thunderstorm 526 Pros and cons of decision to stop flow of troops 527 Suggested "end of hostilities" 528 McKiernan would only have half the troops in Zinni's plan 529 Rumsfeld just ground Franks down. Franks checked out. 530-531 Anbar had smallest U.S. presence. 82nd handled it poorly. 531 President Bush: Mission accomplished. 531-533 Garner's uphill battle. More than he could handle. 534-535 Collapse of Iraqi police force. 535-536 Collapse of electrical grid 536-537 Conclusions of National Intelligence Council. See pp. 640, 666-667. 537-539 Military hard put to keep order in Baghdad 539-541 Iraqi exiles could not agree on a common solution; no allies willing to help; no UN endorsement 541-543 British envoy Sawers diagnosis. Read his memos on pp. 676-687.
 * Chapter 23: Hello, I Must Be Going** (524-544)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

545 Why was Bremer chosen to replace Jay Garner? What do you think of his approach? Shoddy treatment of Khalilzad Coalition Provisional Authority. Insights from Emerald Zone book. 546-547 De-Baathification. Pros and cons. Then and now. 547-550 Dobbins recommendations. Good then? Good now? 550-557 Dissolution of Iraqi army. Pros and cons, then and now. CPA Order Number 2 (see pp. 688-692) 557-562 Who would run Iraq. Fits and starts. Keane's comments 565-569 Loss of a window of opportunity.
 * Chapter 24: Starting from Scratch** (545-569)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

572 Misreading of the foe 573-574 Technology versus people 575 Which was the right enemy. Roots of insurgency. 576-577 What role should Cheney have played? Could he? Would he? 578-579 Nation-building in spite of ourselves 581-582 Read these pages carefully. What do you think?
 * Epilogue** (571-582)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

What has happened in Iraq since then?
 * Afterword to the paperback edition** (583-597)
 * Key Chapter: read it completely**

660 Garner's notes on how to use Iraqi army. 661-665 Perito's memo on how to handle police forces 666-667 Principal Challenges in Post-Saddam Iraq 668-673 Desert Crossing war game 676-687 British assessment by John Sawyers. Good insights Glossary (693-696)
 * Appendix** ( 647-692)

Speeches listed in footnotes "Paradoxes of counterinsurgency" Inside the Emerald Zone John Abizaid Elliott Abrams Joseph Apodaca Richard Armitage Tariq Aziz Masoud Barzani Buford Blount L. Paul Bremer Bush's "Citadel" speech Bush's "West Point" speech Stephen Cambone Camp Doha George Casey Central Command CENTCOM Ahmed Chalabi Richard Cheney Coalition Provisional Authority Joseph Collins James Conway Curve Ball Dell Dailey De-Baathification Charles de Gaulle Diego Garcia island Dobbins Joe Dowdy Fallujah Douglas Feith 507th Maintenance Company "Force Security in Seven Stability Operations" Tommy Franks Jay Garner Newt Gingrich Rick Grabowski Stephen Hadley Steve Hawkins Karbala Gap Michael Gordon Jack Keane Zalmay Khalilizad Ted Koppel Bernard Lewis I. Lewis Libby Jessica Lynch Shoshana Johnson Douglas A. Macgregor David McKiernan Ernest "Rock" Marcone James "Spider" Marks James Mattis T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley Richard B. Myers Rich Natonski Peter Pace Robert Perito Dave Perkins Richard Perle David Petraeus Condalezza Rice Kenneth Pollack Colin L. Powell Victror Renuart Donald Rumsfeld Muqtadr al-Sadr Ricardo Sanchez John Sawers Eric Shinseki Jalal Talabani Bernard Trainor William Scott Wallace Thomas White, Secretary of the Army Albert Whitley Dave Williams Paul Wolfowitz Ronald Young Anthony Zinni
 * Iraq items to look up**


 * Iraq War Weapons**

M1 Tank http://science.howstuffworks.com/m1-tank.htm

Bradley fighting vehicle http://science.howstuffworks.com/bradley.htm

AAV (amphibious) Humvee LAV (light armored vehicles) IFAV (interim fast attack vehicle; dune buggie) Pinzgauer (six-wheel, Swiss-Made) M113 command track [predecessor to Bradley Fighting Vehicle M577 command track


 * Helicopters:**

Little Bird helicopter AH-64 attack helicopter Black Hawk helicopter

Apache helicopter http://science.howstuffworks.com/apache-helicopter.htm

Longbow missile and targeting system; fire and forget capability CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter Cobra helicopter gunship Kiowa Warrior helicopter


 * Drones:**

UAV—unmanned aerial vehicles: http://science.howstuffworks.com/reaper.htm

Global Hawk reconnaissance drone

Predator drone (Air Force) http://science.howstuffworks.com/predator.htm

Dragon Eye drone (small units) Pioneeer drone Hunter drone

How Military Robots work http://science.howstuffworks.com/military-robot.htm


 * US Ordnance:**

Tomahawk land attack (cruise) missile (TLAM) with 1000 pound warhead JDAM satellite-guided bomb MarK77 cigar-shaped bombs filled with napalm ATACMS surface-to-surface missile (two types: unitary round; round with bomblets) EGBU-27 bunker busting bomb Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) (21,700 pounds)


 * Aircraft:**

AWAC (I see no reference in our book to it) C-17 C-130 MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft F-14 F/A 18 A-10 (equipped with Gatling guns) F-117 Stealth Fighter B-2 Bomber F-15E Marine and Navy EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft F-16CJ equipped with HARM anti-radiation missiles Harrier (vertical take-off) with a LITENING targeting pod


 * US Weapons**:

.50 caliber machine gun Tank's coaxial machine gun (Coax) M240G machine gun M4 carbine 9mm pistol M203 grenade launcher MK (Mark) 19 grenade launcher Tank's main gun 25mm chain gun 30mm cannon 120mm high explosive round HEAT (High Explosive Antitank) round Depleted uranium sabot antitank round SADARM, antitank artillery shell Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) fired shells with thousands of tiny cluster bombs DPICM antipersonnel munition of deadly bomblets MLRS artillery Hellfire missiles TOW antitank missile Javelin antitank missile (four-man team) MICLIC (rocket on wheels which unleashes a line of explosives) PAC-3, the most modern Patriot system


 * Other**:

Future Force Warrior http://science.howstuffworks.com/ffw.htm Force tracker device Text message on Blue Force tracker

Thuraya satellite phone Tridium satellite phone Satellite TacSat SMART-T satellite communications system HF radio Chem lights NVG night vision goggles


 * Enemy weapons**:

Insight Into How Insurgents Fought in Iraq (part 1/2) http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/insight-into-how-insurgents-fought-in-iraq/?_r=0

The Most Lethal Weapon Americans Faced in Iraq (part 2/2) http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/the-most-lethal-weapon-americans-faced-in-iraq/?hp