Posted on 03/09/2002 4:42:37 PM PST by Pokey78
Britain considers joint invasion plan
America has asked Britain to draw up plans for 25,000 of this country's troops to join a US task force to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
In a move which reveals advanced US plans for the next phase of its war on terror, Government departments are considering the plans ahead of Vice-President Dick Cheney's meeting with the Prime Minister tomorrow.
Cheney will come to London armed with fresh evidence against the Iraqi dictator, and will tell Tony Blair that United Nations inspections of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons may not be enough to head off a new war in the Gulf.
The request for such a large number of British troops shows the high stakes America is now playing for. It will alarm Cabinet doves, thought to include Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, and Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary and now Leader of the Commons.
The Government is already facing a split on the issue of military action against Iraq. One Minister described those who had questioned Blair's policy of fully backing a US military campaign as 'appeasers'.
'At some point people have to realise that action has to be taken,' he said.
The request for such a large number of troops is unprecedented in peacetime. It is one of three major options now being considered by the Government which has always insisted publicly that no final decisions have been made on military action against Saddam.
British troops would be part of a 250,000-strong ground force to invade Iraq in an operation similar to Desert Storm in 1991.
The second option is one where smaller special forces units would support opposition forces within Iraq, like the tactic used in Afghanistan, where the Northern Alliance was backed with air strikes and logistical support in its battle to overthrow the Taliban.
The third option - thought to be preferred by the Foreign Office - is one of 'aggressive containment'. Under this plan, air strikes against Iraq would be intensified if Saddam did not agree to a comprehensive inspections agree ment.
Cheney arrives in London ahead of a 10-day 'hearts and minds' tour of the Middle East which is seen as vital in shoring up the alliance against Iraq. After London he will visit Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Turkey.
America is confident that with enough evidence against Saddam, the White House can persuade other Arab states to support military action.
'I think they all have legitimate concerns about the regime in Iraq, and they're aware that Saddam continues to represent a threat to the security and stability of the region,' said one White House official. 'I expect they'll all want to talk about it.'
America has already begun a discreet military build-up in preparation for a ground war in Iraq. US special forces are training Iraqi militia to be ready for a strike against Saddam in the coming months.
Teams of instructors drawn from American elite regiments have been arriving in Kurdish-held areas in the north of Iraq in recent weeks, targeting the semi-autonomous areas run by the Kurdish Democratic Party.
The instructors are improving local fighters' tactical and weapons skills and teaching them how to exploit chaos caused by American air strikes. They are also drawing up lists of potential targets, a vital prerequisite to any ground offensive.
Defence sources say a battalion of 24 Longbow Apache attack helicopters also recently arrived in Kuwait. The helicopters, capable of operating up to 250 kilometres behind enemy lines, could be used to attack air defence sites and Iraqi armour in the opening air phase of any war.
In a separate development sources say more than 5,000 US fighting vehicles, mothballed in Kuwait since the end of the Gulf War, have quietly been overhauled.
I don't know about that, it may be true, but the deal is, we can't find out until the EU and Brazil stop subsidizing exported steel. That's what I keep hearing about.
There is a lot of comment over here about Bush having compromised a principle. Of course, if it turns out he's not a free trader, that weakens him politically in the country, because it makes him less a principled free-trader than a Chamber of Commerce cheerleader instead -- "What's good for General Bullmoose, is good for the U.S.A.!" and all that.
Will UK troops be made available? Maybe, but don't count on it. As you keep saying, you don't need us anyway.
Yeah, but as I was telling someone on another thread, it's funny how a year ago, Mr. Fox of Mexico was American's new "best friend", and the Canadians and Brits were trying to pick up their jaws and saying to each other, "what, are we chopped liver, then?" But when the balloon went up, guess who was in the house when President Bush went before Congress? Tony Blair. And don't think we didn't notice. We noticed that it's always the same old faces that seem to keep showing up, when it starts going into the fan and our "new best friends" suddenly remember they had somewhere to go and something to do.
When people start putting on the brass knuckles and telling you what they're going to do to your sister when they get done with you,.... guess who's got your back?
ROTFLMAO!!!!
Thanks! I'm still laughing!
Tony
Yet again Tony, what is the TA doing at the moment, are they making ready for stand by.
So, you serve? or still serving?
<sighs> Another European who doesn't get it. But that's okay.
The military function of the militia in U.S. history has been a) protection against Indians and other groups of predators, and b) against a force of regulars, to deny them the use of the countryside and easy access to people and resources, and to confront only if necessary or advisable.
An example of the latter is the campaign of General Burgoyne through upstate New York, who descended from Canada along what turned out to be an arduous trail that taxed his engineers, but which they nevertheless succeeded in cutting down to the valley of the Hudson. They were supposed to descend the Hudson and effect a junction with British forces then quartering (another thing we don't allow any more) in New York. The militia opposed Burgoyne much of the way, harrying him continually, and standing up to him at Bennington. They lost at Bennington, one of the biggest battles of the American Revolution, but their objective wasn't necessarily to win, but to impose a Pyrrhic victory. It had the desired effect, and after meeting the militia again with the American regulars at Oriskany, Burgoyne was undone, the Americans having meanwhile prevented his communicating with New York.
The function of the militia is not to fight and win a stand-up fight with an enemy formation. Short of that, it can do a lot. Rudyard Kipling seemed to think pretty well of our system: he visited the country in the 1890's, and formed the opinion that a Great Powers expedition against the continent would have only one outcome: "They would die." He got it right.
I've never seen the Mirror, I'd expect it of The Guardian. Saw the Sun once, don't remember their editorial policy, but she was awesome.
Hell no! I burned my draft card and ran to canada ( kidding)
Before I carry on, i'm British not European.
I know fully the capabilities of the militia, much in the same way the maquis chose to conduct there operations during WW2. I was merely answering to another post made on this thread, and stating that conflicts (and enemies) are different today to the stand toe to toe fights of the 18th and 19th centuries. If the Whole US armed forces were to be deployed overseas, there is not much a militia would do against some of the tactics used by the enemies of the US. I was pointing to a WTC style attack. Something a militia would be no good against.
Our steel industry is about to become history. I would very much hate to see this country, in time of war, have to depend on foreign imports of steel. How we got there is our own fault, but it would not be prudent for us to be without a basic industry. In that context we must look out for our own safety.
Cheers Tony
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