Julian Borger
The Guardian, Friday 6 September 2002
If the US and Iraq do go to war, there can only be one winner, can't
there? Maybe not. This summer, in a huge rehearsal of just such a conflict -
and with retired Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper playing Saddam - the US
lost. Julian Borger asks the former marine how he did it.
At the height of the summer, as talk of invading Iraq built in
Washington like a dark, billowing storm, the US armed forces staged a rehearsal
using over 13,000 troops, countless computers and $250m. Officially, America
won and a rogue state was liberated from an evil dictator.
What really happened is quite another story, one that has set alarm
bells ringing throughout America's defence establishment and raised questions
over the US military's readiness for an Iraqi invasion. In fact, this war game
was won by Saddam Hussein, or at least by the retired marine playing the Iraqi
dictator's part, Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper.
