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| You are passing rapidly through: Home > Features > Iraq | 8th August |
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|   War Analysis: The Coalition's morale Morale is essential for any fighting force to remain effective, but what is morale like for the troops involved in the current war in Iraq? DeadBrain investigates. Despatches from the battlefields over the last few days suggest that morale in the British and American forces fighting in Iraq is falling fast, partly because they are being asked to fight. "I've had enough of being shot at and having to shoot back," said one U.S. marine. "This is not what we were told to expect. Nobody said there'd be any fighting, they just said we'd bomb Baghdad and we could march on a victory parade." No matter what the White House and Downing Street say, there now seems little doubt that the war is not progressing as quickly as military planners had expected. An article in the New Yorker tomorrow will say that U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted a "cheap" war and ordered too few troops to the Gulf. Reinforcements are now being brought in but it will be weeks before they arrive. Frequent accidents and incidents of friendly fire may also be taking their toll on forces' morale. British soldiers in particular are likely to be affected by this after a U.S. Patriot missile shot down a British jet, a U.S. A-10 "tankbuster" aircraft attacked a column of lightly-armoured British vehicles near Basra and a British Challenger II tank fired on another Challenger II, killing two. So far five British soldiers have been killed by friendly fire. In the last Gulf War nine were killed by American forces – as many as were killed by the enemy. Complaints are also surfacing about the quality and quantity of food given to soldiers on the ground. Long and insecure supply lines make transporting food and other essential items a lengthy and difficult process. Troops in one part of the country have had their rations limited to just one meal a day. "It's getting ridiculous," complained one man. "An army can't fight on an empty stomach and I haven't seen a McDonald's for miles. I know we're liberating a country and all, but I'm dying for a Big Mac." Sources earlier this week suggested that the advance on Baghdad had been put on hold because of unexpected resistance and shortages of supply. Analysts say that, no matter how great the leadership's resolve is, unless progress is made soon the Coalition's morale may fail before it gets anywhere near Saddam Hussein. See also War Analysis: Iraq's morale
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