Iraq moving troops, artillery closer to Kuwaiti border

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/5112890.htm ^

[Happy2BMe]

It's definitely a matter of weeks - perhaps only a matter of days.

Saddam's pucker factor is at 9 and 1/2.

[cake_crumb]

"They won't surrender at the first shot. They will surrender when they hear the first American tank turn on its engine."

ROFLOL!! WELL SAID BUMP!!! HOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

[happygrl]

Perhaps we should look at these troops less as enemy warriors and more as hostages awaiting rescue.

I agree. I think this is what it means to pray for your enemies.

These guys are hostages.

The peaceniks could be useful here if they would bring some sandwiches to these poor guys.

[Elenya]

I feel sorry for these conscripts. They cetainly aren't effective soldiers and definitely don't want to fight. They're just cannon fodder.

Agreed. This is all so pathetic. No Club Med exile for Saddam and his goons. They will not get away with it!

[Uncle Miltie]

"They are terrified," said one army captain, clad in a blue beret. "They won't surrender at the first shot. They will surrender when they hear the first American tank turn on its engine."

OPPORTUNITY: Recruit them to do the street fighting in Baghdad. Capture the troops and tanks, put special "friendly" markers on them, and send them in against Saddam's Guard units.

They can help fight for their country's freedom.

[Robe]

What would happen if the Iraqi militia and the French army faced each other?

They would stand facing each other naked with their underwear on sticks held in their right hands

[cake_crumb]

"Yes, we are going to have to find an Italian film crew for these Iraqi soldiers to surrender to like they did in 1991."

Sam Donaldson's getting too old now to go for a second try...but bets on when Geraldo bought his ticket to the front?

[Happy2BMe]

"Perhaps we should look at these troops less as enemy warriors and more as hostages awaiting rescue."

You may be more accurate than you are aware of.

During Desert Storm, our B52 bombers pounded Iraqi positions with brutal devastation prior to our land forces cleaning house.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrendered en masse with some surrendering groups in the thousands.

The same bunch is back again - and will crumble like a cracker being stepped on the kitchen floor.

My stepdad was U.S. Army inside Iraq for six months and had the honors of babysitting these camel humpers almost a month until repatriation.

He told me hundreds would approach small groups of 10 or 20 U.S. forces to surrender with their hands trembling so violently from the BUFF bombings they couldn't even hold a cup of water to drink it.

Sha-boom, sha-boom - da da da da da da da, Sha-boom, sha-boom - life would be a dream sweetheart...

[cksharks]

Hey Pappy I would like to test this on you. If your whole family was in custody would you fight? Makes you think.

[Green Kayak]

Right on.

So high, so quiet.
To quote a hapless V.C.:

"One second you are sitting in the forest eating a meal, the next you are sitting on the edge of a crater."

[Walkingfeather]

Or we need to drop copies of the highway of death pictures all over the troops. With the message from the talking heads..... " Your on a road to nowhere.....

[AppyPappy]

I'd fight someone but I probably pick the people holding my family.

[legman]

I believe that there is a big difference between the French military and the French politicians. I would be willing to bet that the military and intellengence communities have been convinced of the danger.

Once the politicians see that the greater political risk is doing nothing and having to answer the second-guessing type questions, they will be on board too.

[Dead Dog]

The peaceniks are busy feeding Saddam grapes, fanning him with peacock feahters, and sucking his toes.

[Robe]

I recommend a book called " Bullseye One" about the Isralie bombing of the Iraq reactor back in 1981. The French were knee deep in helping SH obtain what he needed for a bomb. And Me thinks they're knee deep in there now, afraid to loose the investment and Face IMHO

[maquiladora]

Not as big a deal as the headline makes out.
A few pieces of artillery?

[Robe]

Isralie = Israeli

Darn, I washed my hands this morning and can't do a thing with 'em

[mitchbert]

Ho Chi Minh said the only thing that really scared him were the B52's.

If there's any way to give these and any other Iraqi troops an opportunity to save themselves before the shooting starts (without signing a death warrant for their familes...man this crap makes me want to wring Saddam's neck) it would be truly a mitzvah. Hard to do, I know, and maybe not at all practical. But if it were possible it would be a beautiful way to figuratively scream SHUT UP at the whole "Americans just want to kill Iraqi's" crowd.

[johniegrad]

Several groups of American civilians also have visited the DMZ recently, the officer added, "some with crew cuts and young enough to be my son, not the oil engineers they claim to be."

Is this a reference to lefty human shields?

[MHGinTN]

One has bread the other has cheese. They would likely sahre a meal and await the next army to surrender to.