Because they don't give a damn about Baghdad and most of the population centers. All that matters to the U.S. interests are the oil fields in the south and the oil pipline from Russia in the north. See my separate post, "Oil on your French Toast: The 50 year oil war: No shock, a bit of awe".
I don't know why they are not trying the shock and awe strategy. I can think of a number of possibilities. They aren't mutually exclusive. In declining order of likelihood:
- perhaps they have a greater respect for the Iraqi military than they let on
- maybe, despite the hype, the battlefield technology is not yet in place, or not in great enough strength. The news over here has mentioned British marines trying to find the launch sites of the missiles aimed at them and that hit Kuwait. The pre-war propaganda was all about JSTARS or whatever spotting the launch site instantly and targeting retaliation within seconds. But we're still using blokes with binoculars.
- maybe shock and awe is a bad idea anyway. It might just be too risky. If you throw everything you have got at them on day one, what do you do if they don't cave in on day two? OK, you make sure you have enough kit to keep on doing it - that's actually part of the doctrine - but sooner or later it runs out. And there are loads of other countries out there who need their dose of S&A. It is a very expensive kind of warfare.
- it could be that the military is just too innately conservative for the much-hyped S&A
- perhaps there are some new tricks they didn't want to use in sight of Iran - which (rumour has it) the PNAC types want to invade next (I hope to God they don't)
- perhaps they're saving it for a final attack on Baghdad
- maybe they wanted to use all their nice tanks before they were obsolete. They haven't had a real fast-moving large scale tank battle in ages. They never got to fight the Russians, in 1991 they were mostly shooting at the backs of men running away. It would have been a shame to let an entire generation of big boy's toys rust unused. The RAF somehow found a role for the last Vulcan bomber in the Falklands...
- perhaps the generals took one look at the likes of Rumsfeld and Cheney and Perle and the other PNACs and thought to themselves, without moving their lips: "Fuck you, Sir! We'll do it our way, Sir!"
- maybe they realise that treating the whole world the way a crackhead pimp treats last year's whore who tries to steal his stash isn't going to stop terrorism.
steve
"War is just a racket ... something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small group knows what its about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses." --- Major General Smedley Butler, 1933
