Peter Cairns

Abbott, Well as recall it they fought that americans were more concerned about money than family and were hypocritical as they all went to church but produced more porn than any other country. I don't particularly agree with it but what matters isn't that it's highly accurate but that people outwith America believe it. Whether it be their perception of you or your perception of them, if they are at odds or wrong you have problems. Saddam didn't think the US would fight for Kuwait, the Argentinian Junta didn't think the British would fight for the Falklands. I am not at all sure that the Iraqi's want the kind of country the US wants to make, or that the one that emerges will be one that the US wants. Peter.

I am not talking about those attacking US forces, or incomming terrorists. The opinions I discribed could pretty much be that of the majority of people in every street from Casablanca to Karachi, When Saddam fired Scuds at Israel people celebrated across the arab world, when Pakistan detonated it's atomic bomb, there was dancing in the streets. The reality of public oppinion in the middle east bears little relation to the vision that the US has for Iraq. Thats why I don't think it can work. A couple of years back the BBc had a multinational discussion programme about the US and what people thought about it. They had an invited audiance of people from countries around the world, and they conducted opinion polls in ever part of the world to see what people thought about America. There were two broad conclusions. People envied and aspired to the US standard of living. People didn't like the US way of life and didn't want to be like Americans. What you say about Iraqi's wanting a strong prosperous country is true, the belief that it will be pro let alone similar to America is false. Peter.

The only real problem I've ever had, is that I think AFV's are a bit too easy to spot in built up areas. A couple of times I've seen aircraft quite clearly attack Tanks close to buildings in towns where they would be difficult to spot from almost any angle, when there were clearer targets in the open. I don't think thats a flaw so much as something that probably needs "tweaked". Peter.

LtCol West, Have you heard of the "School Run Ferrari".... I guy goes to take his kid to school in his old beat up $2,000 Nissan and it won't start, So he goes next door to his neighbour and asks could he drop him off in his $200,000 Ferrari, Sure the guy says and takes the skill". Moral "You can take a kid to school in a $200,000 car, but it doesn't make sense to buy one when you can do it for $2,000. The UK and US use SSN's to deploy special forces, and if you have $1 bn subs available by all means use them. But if you were looking for the most cost effective way to deploy SEALs you wouldn't buy a fleet of 60 $1bn subs. You can "Navalise" an appropriate number of Helicopters and can have a residual Naval assault capability and rapid response, without te need for a force like the Marine Corp. The US could probably meet an realistic threat with about a half dozen carriers, it doesn't need the F-22, and like the Commanche, the V-22 is an expensive luxtury that faced with the real challenge in Iraq and Afghanistan the US would be better off scrapping. If they focused more on what they need to do now and less on what they would like to do in the future they would be alot better equipped to meet the challenges they face. Peter.

I am not sure it's even at all, The Vietnamese were prepared to give 1 million to reunify their country, Us resolve began to crack at 50,000. The Iranians lost close to 1 million fighting Iraq, Saddam over 100,000 in Kuwait, US public opinion is shifting against US forces in Iraq at less than 3,000. When the Chinese invaded Vietnam over Cambodia, in a month they took 60,000 casualties, with 20,000 dead. The chinese leadership were disappointed by the result, but didn't bat an eye at the casualties. Even if the US was to kill at a rate of 20 to one, which would be unlikely given the scenario, if the Chinese were prepared to sacrifice 1 million men, the US would need to be prepared to lose 50,000, Korea only cost 33,000. Peter.

Michael Dorosh, I bet that people who fought in WW2 or Korea didn't get the same recognition. Turns out they did retrospectively, but because I said "marines" and technically they didn't qualify as it was an army thing, I win the bet even though what I though was true wasn't. Hope you follow that because I am not sure I do. Peter.

LtCol West, If you can do all these things with a combination of C-130's and Current helicopters why spend so much on the V-22. A new c-130 that can carry a Lav or over 80 men 2,500 miles costs about half of what a V-22 does. And how many of those missions in Afghanistan or Bosnia could just as easily have been carried out by the US army, the last time I looked they had helicopters too. Harsh though this might be for a marine to hear, If there was no US Marine Corp and the budget manpower and resources had been divided amongst the other three services, it probably wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to any conflict since Korea. Peter.

Becket, OWL BUTCHER.......... Peter.

Well, I fluked that one by the skin of my teeth. Peter.

Abbott, So we all just sit back and let the experts make the decisions because they know best. In the UK SDR a few years back they laid out the criteria for replacing a weapon system, and it set it out clearly. You don't just replace you question. Do we need to do this, do we need to do it this way, is there a better way to do it, can we do it more cheaply. As with the Commanche, it turns out that you can achieve the same or better with a cheaper drone. There is a strong case that the USAF can meet any realistic threat to at least 2020, by upgradibg the F-15 instead of buying the F-22. The UK government is currently talking about modernising and adapting to a changing dangerous world, with terrorists and failing states. It currently spends around 40% of the defence budget on procurement. And the current big money tag items are. 272 Eurofighter, Two 45,000 ton aircraft carriers, 12 Type 45 destroyers to protect them, 4 new Astute SSN's, between 100 -140 JSF's. Billions of pounds being spent on stuff that frankly is of little value in the war against terror. At the same time we went in to Iraq with problems and shortages, SA-80's still causing problems, poor radios, not enough body armour, all things that had been identified more or less at the time of the first Gulf war but not put right because we were spending money on Cold War Kit after the Cold War had eneded. You may have faith in Politicians and Generals to make the right call, but me I like to come to my own decisions about these things. Peter.

LtCol West, Fair enough, if there is more the guy done than the post, and he had shown exceptional leadership in the eyes of his superiors over aperiod of time, then you can make a case. I just have a thing about awards that used to mean something special being lessened over time. We get it in the Press in the UK all the tim. They talk about "our Boys being heros", before they have even got on the plane to Iraq. In addition I think we should always be watchfull for political pressure to create "heros" when a war gets unpopular back home. I am not saying thats what happened in this case, but if you look at previous conflicts like the germans in the latter part of WW2, you can see that when moral at home is flagging It's suddenly easier to get a medal. Oh and as they said in Britain during the war about the purple heart... " America is the only country in the world that gives out medals for ripping your arse on barbed wire". Peter.

It may be very modern but that doesn't make it good value for money or necessary. The rule od thumb for development is that the last 10% of performance cost 33% of the budget. That means if a V-22 is a 10 out of 10 and costs £100m, then a 9 out of ten helicopter probably costs about $65m. What is it that the V-22 does so much better that it can justify the expense. Of the three current contenders for the new CSAR mission the other two are conventional helicopters. It's back to the Apache v ARH. The ARH performe smost of the tasks that are a current priority as well or better at a fraction of the cost, and the one it can't do, dedicated anti-armour, is a once in two decades mission. The V-22 can get 20 marines to the beach quicker from further out, but when was the last time the US had to do that. For me it's a good example of bad procurement , in that they have spent a huge amount of money replacing something with a more advanced and complicated system, without ever really asking, the basic question.... WHY?. Sure it can do these things, but are they things we really need to do. In terms of "Opportunity Cost", what have the marines on the ground in Iraq had to do without, so that they can have something that they will probably rarely if ever use in the future. Peter.

The issue is has the time come, given the economic dislocation involved and the cost to both would the US fight today. It's not how hard you hit it's how much you vcan take. Is China and it's people prepared to endure more pain to achieve unification that the US and it's citizeans are to keep it seperate. Most mainland Chinese want unification, and if their government used force would probably take to the streets to support it. I can't see American teenagers lining up in droves outside recruiting offices to go and protect Chinese from becoming, well chinese... As to waiting, the equally widely held view is that they have never had or have any intention of using force, but the threat of forces has a political utility as it helps to give them an edge in the region. Waving a big stick gets peoples attention even if you don't intend to use it. Peter.

I find it hard to believe that there are people in the US that think they can ever make Iraq in to the kind of country they want. Do most Iraqi's want the US to leave as soon as possible.... Yes. Do most Iraqis dislike US involvement and control of their oil.....Yes. Do most Iraqi's dislike and oppose the state of Israel..... Yes. Did most Iraqi's support the countries asperations to nuclear weapons... Yes. Do most Iraqi's feel closer to Iran than the US..... Yes Do more Iraqi's favour an Islamic state than a secular democracy... Yes. The problem with the US vision for a future Iraq is that it hardly looks anything like the future the Iraqi people would choose for themselves. When the US goes the Iraq that developes will almost certainly be much more like Iran than the US, and there is every likelyhood that it will tolerate if not actively promote terrorist and militant groups that will try to target the US. What then do you wait till the attack a US target and invade again. Peter.

LtCol West, The key phrase is "heroic or meritorious achievement or service", You can't have it both ways John, if what he was doing merited a Bronze Star, then most people doing his job should be getting them, and they should be awarding them by the bucket load as people come home from tours, and if he got it for a particular act of bravery then tell us what it was. I have no doubt he was a good and professional soldier, but from the perspective of the UK armed forces you don't get a decoration of that calibre for doing your job well, it's only for acts above and beyond the call of duty. I'd put a bet on the fact that there are hundreds of ex marines who served in the Pacific and Korea who saw a lot more combat and faced a lot more danger who hardly got a pat on the back let alone a bronze star. Peter.

LtCol West, Why should China have done so already. Thats like saying, "If you don't have the strength to overcome enemy defences and have reinforcements on the way, you should attack anyway". China is growing in strength and influence globally and in the Eastern Pacific in particular, why rock the boat, time is on it's side not Americas. Peter.

Abbot, I'll give you the faster longer range, but aprt from that everything else you have listed can be done by a CH53, Oh and a V-22 costs almost $100m and carries 24 troops or up to 11,700 pounds slung. A CH-53 costs £25m to upgrade to "X" standard and can carry up to 55 troops. Like the Commanche, the Osprey has been overtaken by events. Peter.

The civilian point of view refers to the fact that lots of the things you see at air displays are really impressive, like loops and rolls, but most of them are virtually never used in combat because they bleed off far to much energy and that can be pretty much fatal in a dogfight. So what looks impressive when you see it at a display or in training isn't necessarily a good thing in combat. Peter.

But we have learned in iraq, that Helos and ground fire don't mix, so whats the plan Oren..... Fly them rapidly to Syria so that they can be shot down sooner than helicopters would. Peter.

LtCol West, Could you perhaps explain the award of the bronze star. I found this on the net when I looked it up. "3-13. Bronze Star Medal a. The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944 (superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962). b. The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6 December 1941, distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. c. Awards may be made for acts of heroism, performed under circumstances described above, which are of lesser degree than required for the award of the Silver Star." He comes across as a good soldier and a nice guy, and I am sure he was a good cop and is dearly misse. However he didn't seem to do anything particularly heroic in combat, and his service other than combat doesn't seem to be anything that you would class above and beyond just doing his job all be it well. It seems to me to come pretty close to " He was a nice guy and he got killed so lets give him a medal". Peter.

Tagwyn, If you want to claim that the BBc is full of left wing hippies or whatever, prove it post two stories, one BBc the other someone else, and show where the Beeb got it wrong. Put up or shut up. CNN may be the biggest, but world wide the BBC is far more respected, even by people who don't particularly like Britain. Peter.

Abbott, Nice picture, looks impressive from a civilian point of view... Looks like a big, vulnerable, slow moving target from an Iraqi point of view. Peter.

On a slight tangent I was reading a bit about the free trade agreement that the US just signed with one of the latin american countries. It allowed them access to the US for about 60,000 tons of sugsr, and the US access for 50,000 tons of processed chicken. Now I don't know much about farm prices but I am pretty sure that the chickens worth a lot more and that while selling the sugar will help a few big guys who own platations , but probably not there workers, the chicken imports will drive thousands of small holders to the wall. Given that almost everything south of the Rio grande is moving to the left, is there no one in Washington that realises that allowing US business to screw third world countries like this really isn't in ther long term political interest. Look at AQ and Iran, the basis of much of their support and venom is that the West has stole their oil and soverignty, and if you look at South America, that same feeling is making itself felt on the streets. The US doesn't want to be a colonial power like Britain, Spain, Portugal, and France were, but if it acts like one economically it will end up making enemies. Peter.

A possible scenario that could emerge would be this. You command a platoon on the flank, and as you move forward one of your squads spots an HMG engaging the player to your left who is advancing down the centre. Your squad engages it and you order the rest of your platoon who haven't spotted it to use area fire on the estimated HMG position. Then two things happen. Firstly the player to your left starts yelling "WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING" and secondly, As the rest of your platoon concentrates on the area around the HMG they spot two things, First the HMG and then, friendly squad assaulting it that your area fire has cut to shreds...... Peter.

It just gets better. BBC News. Peter.