Fast Response
There is a military cliche that generals prepare to fight the last war. Like most cliches, there is some truth to this. Organizations learn from experience and their experience is based upon past circumstances. However, this war is going to be unlike any other war before it and it shows amazing improvements in the US military's effectiveness at waging war. The rapid response allowed by the internet is revolutionizing business. It appears that communication advances are also having an impact on the military and that the US military is preparing for the wars of the future.
Last night, the US military called an "audible" and made a last minute change in plans. From all reports, the main offensive was not (and is not) scheduled to start for a few more days. However, the military apparently received an intelligence report stating that many senior Iraqi leaders, including Saddam Hussein, would be spending the night in a certain bunker. The US forces launched some Tomahawk cruise missiles to soften up the bunker and quickly followed up by dropping some "bunker busters" on them - special 2,000 pound bombs designed for penetrating bunkers.
The strike -- aimed at "decapitating" Hussein's regime -- was specifically aimed at Hussein, his two sons and other senior leaders of the Baath Party and Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, a senior Bush administration official said.
Saddam Hussein was on Iraqi TV about an hour after the attack to show he was still alive. While some in the Bush administration believe this may have been a prerecorded message, I believe the message was live. From everything I have read, Saddam takes as many pains to look good on camera as Tom Cruise (who is actually 5' 7" although you would never know it from his films). Yet last night he was wearing glasses, something I have never seen before. So I'd say he was just in a hurry to show his troops he was still alive.
The attempt was certainly worth while. Can you imagine if Saddam had been eliminated within hours of the deadline? As it was, he has to worry about his life each night. He may also be missing some of his key henchmen which will greatly reduce his effectiveness at responding to additional military threats.
I am very impressed with a military that can see an opportunity and quickly organize and implement an operation to exploit it. Tyrants all over the world may lose sleep over this demonstration of American power. Good.