drjarhead,
On a point by point basis of your post:
1) Agreed
2)Negative. They used captured AK's and even locally produced handmade copies of it. They also were impressed enough with the AK-74 and its performance to call it the "poison rifle" because of its lethality. They are still using huge stocks of AKs and, for longer ranges, Dragunovs.
3) All weapons become unreliable in sub-zero temps if they are improperly prepared, to include the M1 and all its descendants. Read about GI's pissing on the frozen actions of their rifles in Korea for further info. Furthermore, we might be better served to study the German/Russian mountain troops and their experiences in WWII, as well as the methods used by the Finns, Norwegians, etc. We aren't going to be fighting on flatland, which is what Napolean and the Germans (mainly) did.
4) M4 will work just as well or better than any smg.
5)Satellites are of limited use in seeing underground. Any massing of personnel or materiel is detectable during the transport phase if you have a bird overhead to catch it.
6) Agreed
7)Traversing mountainous terrain is not as easy as you seem to think. Unless you want to turn it into "mountain climbing", you are restricted to a limited number of traversable avenues. Hence, the military importance of such famous places as the Khyber Pass. You don't have to hold the whole mountain range, only the useful passes.
8) There are still people who know mountain fighting available. We just need to take advantage of them.
9) Histories of the German mountain troops of WWII are a good place to start.