US Army - Hizballah has set the standard for stopping modern armies

GERTZ:

U.S. sees Hizbullah holding key to to fighting future assymmetric wars

The U.S. military has come to see Hizbullah as the next major threat.

The U.S. Army has determined that Hizbullah was becoming the model for low-intensity warfare throughout the world.

The army believes Hizbullah would fight much of Iran's wars against the West -- whether in Asia, Europe or even South America.

Let's make sure that message sinks in and gets out. In planning for the future the US Army, in planning what they would do, believes HIZBALLAH = IRAN.

Beat Hizballah, beat Iran.

Shiite Muslim militants of the Hizbullah movement during a parade in the southern Lebanese village of Tair Debba, home to assassinated top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughnieh on February 17. AFP/Mahmoud Zayat

The Center for Army Analysis determined that Hizbullah demonstrated that guerilla tactics combined with missiles could stop a modern military.

The study cited Hizbullah's war with Israel in mid-2006, in which the Iranian-sponsored militia fought the Jewish state to a draw.

The study stressed Hizbullah's capabilities in combining the use of human shields with stealth tactics and precision weapons.

Human shields, are tools against the conscience of your enemies. They don't kill anyone. They don't stop a tank, a bullet or a shell. But they are not conscientious objectors, pacifists, or engaging in civil disobedience against the enemy. They are the enemy population. Let's be clear. Their only hope to live is our mind. They are the inhabitants of Hamburg, Wurzburg, Dresden, and the Ruhr in 1943. They live in Tokyo in 1945.

Has the army accepted the idea that civilian enemy populations are now sacrosanct? What does this mean for OUR CIVILIAN POPULATIONS? You know, the mushrikim?

Hizbullah's combat doctrine was meant to block the advance of a modern military through the use of improvised explosive devices, surface-to-surface rockets, underground facilities and small commando squads.

The study pointed to the need to revise army and Marine Corps procurement to encounter an enemy that uses both guerrilla and conventional military tactics. Under such a scenario, the U.S. military would be equipped with additional armored vehicles, body armor as well as tactical unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Hizbullah model was expected to be adopted by a range of adversaries to the United States. The most likely adversaries would include Taliban in Afghanistan and the Al Qaida-aligned Islamic Courts in Somalia.

A powerful weapon in any Hizbullah arsenal has been anti-tank missiles -- the first time a guerrilla force was supplied with precision-guided weapons. Hizbullah proved its capabilities in knocking out Israeli Merkava Mk-3 and Mk-4 main battle tanks with the Russian-origin AT-14 Kornet anti-tank guided missile.

Hizbullah has already been training anti-U.S. forces in such countries as Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Hizbullah method that concerns the U.S. Army has been the use of computers and secure cellular phones to send messages to fighters.

A key lesson for the U.S. military was the need for well-trained and mobile forces with plenty of firepower that could surprise the enemy. The air force could help monitor the action below, but would not determine the battle.