Mine Countermeasures a Success
By Rear Admiral Paul Ryan, USN
Mine countermeasures operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom have been an unqualified success: the continued presence of U.S. naval forces in the northern Arabian Gulf prior to the outbreak of hostilities precluded Iraq's opportunity to sow mines in that area, early Special Operations Forces and Naval Special Warfare presence in the Khor Abd Allah (KAA) waterway captured a number of cleverly disguised Iraqi minelayers before they could sow their mines, and a well-organized and equipped team of U.S., U.K., and Australian minesweeping and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel successfully cleared mines in the KAA, thus allowing the early provision of humanitarian aid through the port of Umm Qasr. Writing the complete history of the operation will not be possible until the war is over and we have collected and analyzed lessons learned, but the following summarizes the operation to date.
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