Why does the US military, in general, have so many problems fighting guerrilla wars?

Question

Might the problem be that the US military can't distinguish an Iraqi civilian, from an Iraqi insurgent or an Al Qaeda terrorist (unless they are shooting their AK-47s at them)? How do you defeat an enemy when you don't have any idea who the enemy is (unless of course you start carpet bombing the entire Sunni Triangle and then the war would be over in 3 months).

Answer 1

because the US military does not hide behind women and hospitals, and liberals.

Answer 2

Guerilla wars are extraordinarily tough to defend against. By any army. The US does better than anyone. Read Mao's book on irregular warfare. Give you a better idea. Probably the Romans had the best idea for defeating guerillas. They marched a cohort into a rebellious village, lined up all the males between the age of 12 and 60, and went down the line: 1, 2, 3, 4, ...until they got to the tenth guy. A soldier ran him through with a sword, and they started over again, from the top. 1, 2, 3, .....A very effective method. That's where the word "decimate" came from. "Deci" is Latin for 10. The Soviets got their butts kicked big time in Afghanistan. We're doing way better than they did. We lost in Vietnam and we're having trouble in Iraq simply because there's so many people in this country that sympathize with enemies of America, no matter who they are. So the Iraqi insurgents are fighting part of the war on the ground and part in the American media. If you study Vietnam, you'll quickly realize that the American had won that war several times, but LBJ and Robert McNamera kept screwing things up. Same as in Iraq. The American military wants to kill some of the real bad guys, we have their addresses, but the civilians who are really in charge over the military (see the US Constitution) have an attack of the vapors whenever it comes to actually killing some thug. So that's a big part of the problem. See also the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the insurgencies in Malaysia and the Phillipines. Tough to fight 'em.

Answer 3

Similar as to why a mighty Power like Great Britain lost the the colonist. When you are fighting for your home against a foreign power, you put a lot more into it. The Vietnamese & Iraqis are no different than the Minute men of the Revoutionary war.

Marc H. The US is now the invaders. The US's greatest victory in the War of 1812 was at New Orleans, which had no effect as the war was over

DAVID- C- AND OTHERS- THE MAIN PROBLEM IS WHEN YOU ATTACK A COUNTRY FOR YOUR OWN EXPANSIONIST REASONS, YOU ARE DAMN RIGHT, THEY WILL FIGHT ANYWAY THEY CAN TO DRIVE THE INVADERS OUT. WHY PPL CAN'T UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS THE PROBLEM 95% OF THE TIME FACING THE "SO-CALLED BAD GUY IS BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING''

Answer 4

Not just the United States - France was effectively defeated by the North Viet Namese, Russia was effectively defeated by the Afghan guerrillas, we were effectively defeated by the North Viet Namese - there are many instances of "super powers" not being able to attain a victory against guerrilla fighters.

Many reasons -
The enemy is on his home turf
The enemy has no front or facilities that can be easily targeted
The enemy can easily recruit on the basis of his homeland being invaded
The enemy avoids major battles and just keeps chipping away at his foe
And, sooner or later, opposition from the home front will erode his enemy's moral and will to fight
Psychological: the guerrilla fighters HAVE to win, the invading country's soldiers only have to fulfill his tour of duty and avoid being a casualty
There are no rules in guerrilla warfare tactics
The guerrillas don't concern themselves with "the hearts and minds" of the civilians
The guerrillas have the advantage of setting the pace of the war
The guerrillas have the obvious targets
The guerrillas can blend in with the populous

I'm sure there are more reasons, too - obviously, new tactics and a different type of warfare is needed to combat terrorists.

Answer 5

Yeah the U.S has gotten used to doing things like dropping bombs and stuff. Have you noticed when people say "Lets just nuke em and get over with it". That is their solution for North korea and Iran and Iraq. So what if the land is obliterated can't
the terrorists just spread out awkwards so the u.S has to bomb
every single place. Japan gave up because they did not want
civilians dead.They could have kept fighting until the end. Even
if their military was being wiped out they could have still used rebels and terrorists but they gave up for the people.The U.S
has seriosly got to train in gurrilla warfare because soon if
Iran or North korea were to be invaded and a nuke were involved
the people who say "nuke em" are in for a big shock:They will not
give up until the last man they will fight until the last man and cause as much damage to the U.S as possible and that is the same with Iran.The terrorists will spread awkwards and
will be everywhere. You can't "nuke em" now.They will fight until they have no more forces. Its not a formal thing when people sign documents staing they give up. Since the people in
the U.S sue for every single thing they are thinking its this
big signing of documents. War is not like that any more. War is real and will happen until every single person in a side gives up.
So Iraq will not be won until every terrorist is dead. That
will take a long time.

Answer 6

Guerrilla warfare requires significant expertise in our U.S. Military. Our ground troops (Army divisions) are great sources for achieving short term objectives, as in liberating Kuwait as we did in the Gulf War of 1991. It's all about adapting to the enemy's tactics & strategy swiftly. Special operations personnel are the only people that can do the job effectively.

Answer 7

circumstances have been a great deal diverse then. It became the time of "loose love" "song-in" and "drop out" and the drug subculture entering trend. Experimentation with drugs exceptionally marijuana develop into huge scale with over 0.5 the civilian inhabitants attempting it faster or later. you in addition to mght ought to endure in ideas that no longer all that lots became ordinary approximately it and how it led to extra sturdy drugs and there became a great counter subculture increasing up for the 1st time against wide-unfold social factors, criminal and regulation enforcement areas of society besides because of the fact the militia. attempting out became no longer ordinary and counter drug strategies weren't developed yet and in place to maintain %. with this overwhelming swell. It became additionally theory that soft drug customers ought to be rehabilitated an the militia developed the drug retraining application which oftentimes failed and became discontinued in 1973. additionally the choose for the draft and sufficient numbers human beings adult males for the army fairly additionally helped create an environment the place you have been retained and stored interior the militia even nevertheless you've got been busted for using soft drugs like marijuana. The 0 tolerance coverage this is in place now became no longer observed by way of the U. S. militia until the mid to previous due 80's and properly after the top of Vietnam.

Answer 8

It does an ineffective job of securing zones. Weapons and bomb material are abundant and holes in which weapons and bombs can be transported through are many.

One way really is to clear out a village entirely. Then clean up the area of ALL weapons or anything that can be used to make weapons. Let the villagers back in one by one. Repeat. The village effectively becomes defenseless except for the security provided by the US military. If faction1 blows up a mosque belonging to faction2, clear faction1's village. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Answer 9

It's not just the US. Every army has difficulties fighting guerrilla wars.

The Russians in Afganistan, England in Ireland, and the American Revolutionary War are just a few examples.

It's difficult because you can't identify your enemy from civilians. They hit, run, and blend in. You deplete your resources trying to maintain control. A small group can easily enter a city and set ambushes or bombing attacks.

Answer 10

We don't. That is a myth. We have been good at fighting guerilla wars since colonial times. You might check out captain Benjamin Church in New Englands great indian war in the 1600's, King Philips war. Rogers Rangers in the French and Indian war. The Revolutionary war and war of 1812, especially in the south. The Civil War. In WWII the orginal special operations units in our armed forces were some of the best troops in the world. In Vietnam , two large divisions the 101st air assault and 1st calvry division became extremely skilled at this. Together they had the highest kill ratio's of any division's in the war. In addition forces like navy SEAL's, marine force recon., Special forces, LRRP's, the 1st calvrys blues platoons, and 101st hunter- killer units became better at guerilla war than the VC/NVA. The NVA were under orders to avoid contact with the" horse slodiers and chicken soldiers", if at all possible. Those names were based on the division patches. The 101st was mad as hell to be referred to as the chicken soldiers until it was explained to them the NVA had no idea what the patch represented. There were no bald eagles in Vietnam. Then they were proud of the orders. Fair warning the 101st sometimes refers to itself as the puking chickens, but no one else should. In short we have never been bad at guerilla war. It is the political hacks rules that tend to hamstring our troops. They worry too much about image and world opinion, not to mention the voters back home. They should worry about winning a war. Once they get us in one, let the professionals fight it and let them do as much as they have too the other side to win.

Answer 11

First, virtually NO Army has been successful fighting AGAINST a Guerrilla or Insurgent force:

- England against the US Militia's in the Carolinas during Revolution.
- Germany against Partisans in Europe during WWII.
- The French lost to the Vietcong in Indo-China.
- WE lost the WAR in Vietnam politically.
- The USSR was forced to withdrawl in Afghanistan.
- Iranian insurgents have brought Iraq to the point where the American People are losing heart.

Simply, the guerrilla doesn't FIGHT face to face... hit & run, sabotage, murder, ambush... just NEVER enter into a running fight. As long as they are supplied... they can fight and disappear.

Why do we lose ? We fight according to the "rules"... we don't level city blocks... we don't round up a village and shoot them for supporting the insurgents...

Okay, please... I'm talking POLICY, not the act of one or a few.