ABSTRACT
Russian military experts offered varying assessments of the recent US-British led war in Iraq. For most retired members of the military establishment and for several serving officers, the coalition's techniques represented nothing new and were highly criticized. Derogatory comments were aimed at the coalition's imprecise use of precision weapons, the inability of the coalition to successfully engage the Iraqi military, and the inaccuracy of coalition reporting. In short, these Soviet or Russian officers did not believe coalition 'propaganda' about the low number of casualties or equipment failures (all the while swallowing Arab propaganda without comment), and preferred to highlight coalition failures and Iraqi successes. For the majority of serving officers, however, and a few retired officers and a civilian member of the Duma defense committee, the coalition's performance was enviable and worthy of admiration.
