MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on a possible operation by the US against Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
Two weeks before our parliamentary elections, Ankara will host two important US generals. Gen. Tommy Franks will come to Turkey in order to discuss Turkey’s role in plans for a ‘second Gulf War’ along with his colleague Gen. Joseph Ralston, commander of NATO’s forces in Europe. After this visit, the National Security Council (MGK) will convene to discuss the US’ ‘Iraq plan.’ Certainly Washington will request the use of a ‘headquarters’ in Turkey as it did during the ‘first Gulf War,’ because taking out Saddam depends on paralyzing Baghdad from the air. Prime Minister Ecevit’s recently stated concern about ‘losing our young people’ over Iraq is a fear that well might become real if Turkey is dragged into a war similar to Vietnam. The Pentagon worked hard to overcome the US ‘Vietnam syndrome’ during 1991’s Gulf War. Famous American journalist and historian David Halberstam provides striking military details about the Gulf War in his recent book ’War in a Time of Peace.’ For example, we can catch a possible glimpse into the strategic thinking of Pentagon generals by looking at the role of Col. John A. Warden in planning that era’s air attacks against Baghdad. Warden, who retired in 1996, was an officer who tirelessly lobbied for his own ideas and when he failed to win over one high-ranking general, he turned without hesitation to the next. After Warden left Vietnam in deep frustration, he studied the air campaigns of World War II. In that war, planes which hit their target would proceed to the next target. However, their possibility of actually hitting the mark would be low. In the Gulf War, Warden suggested to Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell -- now secretary of state -- the method of ‘parallel attack,’ a method designed to paralyze Iraq’s ‘central military nervous system’ through simultaneous attack across all levels, including the strategic, operational and tactical. Instead of carrying out heavy bombardment against targets near Baghdad, he reasoned, it would be more effective if the US used its computer and satellite technology to launch intensive attacks against targets to be determined from far away through spy planes. The result was what Warden had expected: The US destroyed the Iraqi military force in six weeks and Saddam’s tanks were buried in the desert. In the decade plus since the Gulf War, technology has been vastly improved. However, this time Saddam himself will be the target, and he will try any method, including chemical weapons attacks, in order to survive. But it would be hard to take Baghdad without launching a ground military assault. Bush’s generals will request a headquarters in Turkey. What should Ankara do? My best advice is to remember Clemencau’s famous words: ‘War is too serious a business to be left to the generals’.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION