Posted on 03/20/2003 10:37:45 PM PST by Beck_isright
SADDAM'S DEADLY PLAN
Saddam Hussein has turned Baghdad into a "hornets' nest" ready for a bloody showdown with British and American troops, US officials said.
The Iraqi capital is expected to witness the most fierce fighting if war breaks out.
Saddam's generals are expected to try to drag invading forces into a messy urban conflict in the city.
Military experts say urban warfare gives Iraq its best chance of inflicting a high number of casualties and causing a stalemate which would save it from defeat.
Major General Dan Leaf, the chief US Air Force officer in the headquarters of the allied land command, said:
* Baghdad has been ringed with air defences more formidable than the 1991 Gulf War.
* Almost all Iraq's heavy weaponry has been pulled back to Baghdad to protect the capital.
* Baghdad is packed with surface-to-air missiles, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery.
* Trenches surrounding the city have been filled with oil ready to be set ablaze to hamper British and US air strikes.
* Clusters of anti-aircraft artillery have also been deployed along possible attack routes for cruise missiles.
"It is a hornet's nest right now. There is nothing subtle about it," General Leaf told the New York Times.
"The volume of it is significant. They will be able to put a lot of missiles and a lot of bullets in the air and that will make Baghdad a very tough problem."
Saddam has several Soviet-designed missile systems, some of which he has been upgraded and put into strategic positions, said General Leaf.
"If you put enough lead in the air somebody is going to get hit if they are at the altitudes that those bullets can reach. That's a robust air defence system," he added.
Last Updated: 18:25 UK, Monday March 17, 2003
Better yet, let's just "shock & awe" bagdad down to the third level of garbage over which the city is built, using the new "daisy cutters" (don't remember what they're called) and simply remove the necessity for going in! Why bother? So a few news scum and peace shields get fried in the process - what's the downside to THAT?!
Stay vigilent, stay armed, and never trust a muslim or a liberal because both are terrorists (differing only in weaponry and technique).
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