Bernie Gunther
Fundamentalist Druid
I think you're right in pointing out considerable differences between Sadr's mob, from what I've read of them, and Hezbollah in terms of discipline and most likely also in terms of the sophistication of the weapons that they have available. I also agree that dense urban territory is quite different from South Lebanon. Having said that I still think there are valid points of comparison.
What Hezbollah were trying to do, as far as I can make out, was a bit like what the Russians were trying to do in the defensive phase of the battle of Kursk. Slow the progress of the assault to a crawl and maximise attrition, in order to defeat an opponent whose circumstances meant that they had to achieve a swift victory in order to succeed at all.
The same constraint very likely applies to the US military in any attempt to take on Sadr's militias on their home turf. The longer it takes them, the less likely it becomes that they can succeed at all.
In that situation and given the dense urban terrain, it probably doesn't matter all that much that the Mahdi Army lacks Hezbollah's organisation, discipline and fancy Russian anti-tank weapons. They can very likely still swarm US vehicles with their RPGs, erect barricades, set off mines and so on, in order to bog the US down and to inflict significant damage on them.
If they can do that for long enough, and the sheer scale of Sadr City makes this seem likely, then the US is either going to have to give up or call in the bombers.
What Hezbollah were trying to do, as far as I can make out, was a bit like what the Russians were trying to do in the defensive phase of the battle of Kursk. Slow the progress of the assault to a crawl and maximise attrition, in order to defeat an opponent whose circumstances meant that they had to achieve a swift victory in order to succeed at all.
The same constraint very likely applies to the US military in any attempt to take on Sadr's militias on their home turf. The longer it takes them, the less likely it becomes that they can succeed at all.
In that situation and given the dense urban terrain, it probably doesn't matter all that much that the Mahdi Army lacks Hezbollah's organisation, discipline and fancy Russian anti-tank weapons. They can very likely still swarm US vehicles with their RPGs, erect barricades, set off mines and so on, in order to bog the US down and to inflict significant damage on them.
If they can do that for long enough, and the sheer scale of Sadr City makes this seem likely, then the US is either going to have to give up or call in the bombers.
