Doctrine of Acreage
T. E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) noted in an article about "Mesopotamia" (1920) that to properly hold it, an alien force would have to have enough manpower to cover the then 140,000 sq. miles every 4 square miles or so. He said a minimum of 20 men per emplacement would be required. To do this now, would require over 800,000 troops, as Iraq now covers over 168,000 sq. miles.
Let's assume that the modern war planners believed in their equipment and troops, and themselves assumed they could double Lawrence's estimate in all directions: instead of an emplacement in the center axis of a 2 x 2 grid, how about in the center of a 4x4 grid, or 16 square miles coverage by each emplacement? That would demand coverage of 10,500 such nodes by say only 16 troops, which gives an estimated requirement of only 168,000, a number more in line with the highest magnitude of coalition troops in Iraq since the invasion of 2003. Is this thinking valid? Is this the thinking that appears to have severely underestimated needed troop strength in Iraq?
