chris@uunet.UU.NET (Chris Graham) (08/05/90)
From: graham!chris@uunet.UU.NET (Chris Graham)
I've been thinking about the military options available to the US for
responding to the recent invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and I'm interested
in what other people think the best options might be. My guess is that
a naval blockade might be the most cost effective response.
It seems that airpower can be brought to bear faster than any other
vehicles of destruction and it can be used to destroy the Iraqi airforce
and Navy. Even in absense of friendly bases, it seems that the US Navy
can project enough airpower to accomplish this objective by using massed
aircraft carriers.
Once Iraq is denuded of it's power to fight on the sea and in the air,
it should be a simple matter to enforce a total and strangling blockade.
It is said that Hussein's rule is not secure and so the economic results of
such a blockade might prove a danger to his administration. Moreover, Iraq
is bounded by countries which are hostile to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
Consequently, a naval blockade might prove effective in cutting out all
trade, including the export of oil.
What do people out there think of this?
--
Thought of the day:
Mythology, n.:
The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its
orgin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished
from the true accounts which it invents later
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
BITnet : lsuc!graham!chris@utorgpu
uucp : ...!uunet!lsuc!graham!chris
FidoNet: Chris ON 1:250/716 mcdaniel@uunet.UU.NET (Tim McDaniel) (08/09/90)
From: mailrus!sharkey!amara!mcdaniel@uunet.UU.NET (Tim McDaniel)
Suppose Iraq were to use tactical chemical weapons against U.S.
forces, be it Marines/Army or Navy.
- What protective equipment does the U.S. have available, and in what
quantities?
- What do the units in the Persian Gulf area have?
- Is the stuff actually usable in the area? (If the Army uses
rubberized suits, say, I rather have my doubts.)
- What, if anything, did Iran and Iraq use in their war?
I'm reminded of the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf. It was, as I
recall, suddenly discovered that we had no minesweepers there and no
plans to have any, a few old minesweepers in the Navy, and no plans to
build new ones. I welcome correction if my memory is wrong on this.
--
"I'm not a nerd -- I'm 'socially challenged'."
Tim McDaniel
Internet: mcdaniel@adi.com UUCP: {uunet,sharkey}!amara!mcdanielnelson@ee.udel.edu (Mark Nelson) (08/14/90)
From: Mark Nelson <nelson@ee.udel.edu> In article <1990Aug9.020039.8873@cbnews.att.com> mailrus!sharkey!amara!mcdaniel@uunet.UU.NET (Tim McDaniel) writes: >Suppose Iraq were to use tactical chemical weapons against U.S. >forces, be it Marines/Army or Navy. > >- Is the stuff actually usable in the area? (If the Army uses > rubberized suits, say, I rather have my doubts.) According to a report on CNN, the Army's chemical protection suits are made of cloth, impregnated with activated charcoal to absorb or neutralize the chemical agents. Of course, the head mask is rubber, and the soldiers wear rubber gloves. The normal helmet and boots are worn, with something over the boots (it wasn't specified what, but it did look awfully ungainly.) >- What, if anything, did Iran and Iraq use in their war? As far as the Iraqi chemical stockpile, they have mustard gas and one of the more primitive nerve gasses (I don't remember the name). Their nerve gas was originally developed in Germany during WWII, and is based on a common pesticide. Although mustard gas is not usually fatal, during the Iran/Iraq war and the Iraqi gas attacks on their own Kurdish minority, more fatalities were caused by mustard gas than by the Iraqi nerve gas. -- Mark Nelson ...!uunet!udel!nelson or nelson@udel.edu This function is occasionally useful as an argument to other functions that require functions as arguments. -- Guy Steele, Jr.
carlson@gateway (Bruce Carlson) (08/14/90)
From: carlson@gateway (Bruce Carlson) In article <1990Aug9.020039.8873@cbnews.att.com> mailrus!sharkey!amara!mcdaniel@uunet.UU.NET (Tim McDaniel) writes: > >Suppose Iraq were to use tactical chemical weapons against U.S. >forces, be it Marines/Army or Navy. > >- What protective equipment does the U.S. have available, and in what > quantities? >- What do the units in the Persian Gulf area have? >- Is the stuff actually usable in the area? (If the Army uses > rubberized suits, say, I rather have my doubts.) >- What, if anything, did Iran and Iraq use in their war? The "rubberized suit" description is not quite correct, but the suits are almost that bad. A description of the suit: Two piece, pants and shirt, with zippers on each and a snapped down flap over the zippers. The shirt snaps to the trousers and the trousers are quite high-waisted. The construction is two layers of fabric with an activated charcoal layer (maybe some other layers) between them. The look and feel is like a kids fiberfill snow suit. Its not quite as warm as a snow suit, but its close. Boot covers, thick rubber sole, thinner upper portion that you tie up around your ankles. Loose fitting, akward to walk in, upper portions are not very durable. Gloves, black, similar to heavy rubber kitchen gloves, with a cotton replaceable liner. Mask, (I think M17A1 is the nomenclature). Mask body is heavy rubber, inhale through the filters on each side, exhale through the lower middle in front of the mouth. Masks are sized in small, medium and large and if you wear glasses you can fit eye-glass inserts into them so you can see. There is an attachment on the front with a tube that connects to a canteen so you can drink without removing the mask. You can also get a resuscitation tube that connects to the exhalation port so you can (in theory) give CPR with your mask on. Mask hood, attached to the mask. Rubber hood that covers most of the mask and extends down over the shoulders, straps under the arms hold the hood down. If you wear all this equipment you are covered from head to toe with either rubber or the charcoal filtered double-layer cloth. Problems with the equipment: - Overheating of personnel is prevalent, even in moderate weather. - It is fairly easy to tear some of the rubber pieces if you actively engage in things like walking in rough terrain or falling on the ground. - The mask filters must be replaced periodically if they are exposed to active agents and the mask must be removed during replacement. Replacement time is every 4 hours of exposure and you have to be in a chemical free environment since you must remove the mask. - The mask makes it generally hard to breath, because of the one-way valve on the intake. It wears you out after a while. The U.S. Army has a lot of other Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) equipment that is standard to all tactical units. They have chemical monitoring units that mount on the outside of vehicles and portable detection kits to analyze the type of agent. In combat every man should carry Atropine or Nerve-Agent Antidote and some other items (that I can't recall the name of) stored in his mask carrier. The big problem with all the NBC equipment, from the troops perspective, is that they have never seen it used in a real chemical environment and they don't know if it works the way its supposed to. The Army trains NBC personnel and makes NBC training part of its regular program, but there has never been an actual threat. There are also no "war stories" about chemical attacks and no "old-timers" that can tell troops what really happens. Bruce Carlson carlson@gateway.mitre.org
root@uunet.UU.NET (Superuser) (08/15/90)
From: edat!root@uunet.UU.NET (Superuser) In article <1990Aug9.020039.8873@cbnews.att.com> mailrus!sharkey!amara!mcdaniel@uunet.UU.NET (Tim McDaniel) writes: >Suppose Iraq were to use tactical chemical weapons against U.S. >forces, be it Marines/Army or Navy. > >- What protective equipment does the U.S. have available, and in what > quantities? The local Army National Guard Unit here is Las Vegas is a Decontam- ination Unit trained in desert chemical warfare. Local news reports said they are not on alert, though individuals they have prepared to leave on a moments notice. Also that operating in the desert is tough, but can be done. Everyone just must take more frequent breaks. This is akin to firefigthers operating in the summer time with masks on. >- What do the units in the Persian Gulf area have? The one in Vegas is still here. I guess not Guard units have been activated at the moment. >- Is the stuff actually usable in the area? (If the Army uses > rubberized suits, say, I rather have my doubts.) Sure its usable, just oppressive. -- Brian Douglass uunet!edat!brian