What would you do in Iraq?

[Keith Heitmann]

If you had the command and the power, what would you do to lessen the insurgent attacks and planting of IEDs taking such a toll on our troops?

Try to be realistic. And, no, much as you would like to, you cannot NUKE the entire country.

[Keith Heitmann]

My first thoughts would be to take away the means of delivering such large scale car bombs. I would eliminate most civilian road traffic by banning all civilian cars and trucks. Any animal carts would have to carry their loads exposed on a flat bed trailer in full view of all present. Failing that I would limit all civilian traffic to specific routes. Any vehicle caught on a unauthorized road would be fired upon without warning.

Any vehicle on the road would have to be authorized and would have to pass through multiple checkpoints all manned by heavily armed and armored troops and equppied with explosive sniffing dogs.

IEDs take time to place, especially the big artillery and tank mine variety. These are most likely laid at night. I would have armed UAV Prowlers monitoring major routes with IR night vision capabitlity, and have some C-130 Spectre gunships patrolling the night air over Baghdad that could be called in on a target at moments notice. These could also be used during the day.

There would armed night patrols staking out various points in the road and the surrounding areas ready to intercept any group attempting to approach a road during the night. Alert squads would be available by chopper in case the insurgents decided to put up a big fight or assault a stakeout point.

The U.S. not doubt has satellites that can zoom in on a man and count the number of hairs on his head. These would be brought into play to monitor any activity in the streets night or day that seems suspicious.

Since the "airport road" in Baghdad is the most notorious, I would concentrate my first efforts there and take that area away from the insurgents and then expand into other areas.

Use ground sensors dropped from aircraft, such as those dropped along the Ho Chi Minh trail to sense when anyone is moving through otherwise remote unguarded areas. Surround the city with these devices in a net the completely encircle the city. Create a "no-mans land zone" with appropriate posted warnings, written and via radio & t.v., and issue a "shoot first and ask questions later" order for patrolling aircraft and troops in those areas.