"Who was guilty for the Iraqi Army Collapse?" Topic

I am making some foam core, Atlantic wall bunkers for a memoir'44 game in 54mm. As a kid I recall seeing a model of a German concrete bunker painted in geometric shapes, in various shades of gray (Airfix 1:72nd?). Were they painted actually painted? A cursory internet search has turned up nothing definitive. Any help appreciated.

"When Islamic State fighters overran a string of Iraqi cities last year, analysts at United States Central Command wrote classified assessments for military intelligence officials and policy makers that documented the humiliating retreat of the Iraqi Army. But before the assessments were final, former intelligence officials said, the analysts' superiors made significant changes.

In the revised documents, the Iraqi Army had not retreated at all. The soldiers had simply "redeployed."

Such changes are at the heart of an expanding internal Pentagon investigation of Centcom, as Central Command is known, where analysts say that supervisors revised conclusions to mask some of the American military's failures in training Iraqi troops and beating back the Islamic State. The analysts say supervisors were particularly eager to paint a more optimistic picture of America's role in the conflict than was warranted…"
Full article here
link

To have all of this aired publicly now…tells us that the problem is far worst than what they are telling us. You have to wonder …. especially now …. if all the intelligence on Iraq (and elsewhere) …. coupled with their assessments, options, and recommendations …. is wrong and inaccurate…

Amicalement
Armand

The original assessments were correct.

The "official", revised reports are a whitewash, and I suspect in many cases, what would be called pure "fiction" by most, as shown by the example cited above in your posting.

Hmmmm,something happened to my thread.

CraigSpiel, this should give you some information that will help with your actual question (even though the posts regarding the USA's lack of military expertise coming to light is quite entertaining!):

books.google.ca/books?id=Pe8HBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=painted+atlantic+wall&source=bl&ots=g82yWbBLAX&sig=P0CMqR7oaIdJIqor4yQTDj48ZX8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAutSIp6PJAhXCHR4KHZ92AIEQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=painted%20atlantic%20wall&f=false

Thanks,wmyers! That helps a great deal.

Sad… the article was really good!

Amicalement
Armand

You mean the Iraqi Army in combat … they clearly are to blame. For a plethora of reasons.

And after the US left the Iraqis on their own, again clearly their governmental leadership [with support from the Persians] dropped the ball, again for a variety of reasons.

Aside from the well known issues of corruption and factionalism, another issue might simply be fatigue.

Even those senior officers trying to do a decent job have probably been at war since 2003…

I dunno ..this two-threads-at-once-thing might catch on.

There was a story in the NY Times a while back about the collapse of the Iraqi 9th Brigade. The CO was a buddy of al-Maliki, who was then Prime Minister. The CO ran off and left the troops without leadership, supplies or water. After a few days without water in the desert the brigade melted away.

Picking commanders for personal loyalty rather than military skill has risks.

Damn. I just opted out of ultra-modern just to avoid this.

Aside from the well known issues of corruption and factionalism, another issue might simply be fatigue.

Even those senior officers trying to do a decent job have probably been at war since 2003…

Possibly …

They were not that effective in both GWI and GWII in any light … and before that in the earlier Iran-Iraq War …

I thought this referred to the WWII Iraqi army!

I have no inside information, but I would say leadership first and foremost.

Henry V took off his spurs to show he was going to stay and fight. Many Iraqi officers seem to have deserted before their men decided to 'redeploy to the rear without orders'. From what I've read, some officers may have actually betrayed their men, placing them in untenable positions before disappearing.

I remember the US Army declaring Iraqi Brigade after Iraqi Brigade 'ready'. Even allowing for some wishful thinking and political pressure, I must believe they had some reason to declare these units to be 'ready'.

If well-led and properly supplied, they should have been able to perform at least adequately. But few units would perform well after being badly deployed and seeing their officers run away.

On the bug, over on 'Slate' they recently had a meltdown where all the comments on every article ended up mashed into one thread. It was quite entertaining, especially the exchanges between people who did not realise what was happening.

Oh this really needs to be over in the Blue Fez.