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05/30/2003 Archived Entry: ""

HOW TOMMY PUNK'D SADDAM HUSSEIN: Fred Barnes has a beautiful article in the Weekly Standard about how Gen. Tommy Franks won the war in Iraq. Along with the stuff we know about -- how the American military's tactics and equipments have changed in the Dubya era -- is an interesting (and unproven) belief that Barnes has that the fact that Turkey wouldn't allow ground forces to operate out of its terrority was planned for and actually a part of Franks' campaign.

THE NEW WARFARE wasn't the sole source of the success in Iraq, nor is it the only aspect of transformation. Old concepts carried out more efficiently played a part. One was deception. The Turkish gambit was Franks's boldest effort to deceive Saddam. There's no proof, but the best guess is it affected Saddam's expectations of when an invasion might occur.

Weeks before the war, American military officers learned from their Turkish counterparts that Turkey was unlikely to allow the U.S. 4th Infantry Division to invade Iraq from Turkey in the north. Such an attack was a critical part of the Franks plan. But absent a northern front, Franks wanted Saddam to think an invasion from Turkish soil was still likely and that the war couldn't begin until weeks after the Turkish issue was resolved. So Franks insisted ships with the 4th Infantry's tanks and equipment remain off the shore of Turkey for weeks, as if awaiting the Turkish okay to unload. In fact, disinformation that the Turks would ultimately permit American troops to operate from their soil was slipped to Saddam's inner circle.

If that's true, Franks deserves to be on the same list as men like MacArthur and Patton.

If you read nothing else today, make it this. Read on.