Regime falling to pieces, Blair told

The Daily Telegraph ^ | March 24, 2003 | Toby Helm

[MadIvan]

Saddam Hussein's regime appears to be falling to pieces fast and parts of it are already working on "auto-pilot" with no proper directions from the top, Tony Blair was told last night.

Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of the Defence Staff, briefed an emergency meeting of the war Cabinet at Downing Street, telling it that coalition forces were making "real progress" and, notwithstanding accidents, that the campaign was proceeding "according to plan".

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the message was that the Iraqi government was crumbling under the force of the offensive.

Some of those in the Iraqi chain of command were giving the impression that they were second guessing what their superiors should be telling them.

"It could be that parts of the regime are working on auto-pilot based on what they think they should be doing without being properly directed from the top," the spokesman said.

Sir Michael said patience was necessary to achieve victory and that accidents were always likely in a conflict.

The Prime Minister asked Sir Michael to send his "heartfelt thanks" to the 45,000 British troops directly involved in the war.

He was briefed in detail on the death of the two-man crew of an RAF plane shot down by an American Patriot missile in the first "friendly fire" incident of the war.

Other reports of British pilots going missing were not true, ministers were told.

The Prime Minister was "deeply saddened" to hear of the death of the ITN reporter Terry Lloyd. The Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence would do whatever they could to return his body to Britain.

Sir Michael said the Faw peninsular had been secured by coalition forces and the port of Umm Qasr was largely safe.

There were continuing "pockets of resistance" particularly from the Republican Guard.

[MadIvan]

Contrary to what much of the media may think, we are winning. Stay the course to victory.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[ReaganRevolution]

Contrary to what much of the media may think, we are winning. Stay the course to victory.

Exactly! I don't know why so many people on TV think that this is going to be done without pain. From what I was hearing this afternoon I would have thought the Iraqis had us on the run. Be strong!!

[aBootes]

Contrary to what much of the media may think, we are winning.

contrary to what much of the media may WISH, we are winning.

[CrimeOf73]

Agreed. The media is constantly looking for stories with these themes:

- civilian casualities
- friendly fire incidents
- accidents and mishaps
- unexpected events in the field resulting in additional adversity to the troops

They place little or no emphasis on the dominant theme of the war, which is that we are thoroughly decimating the Iraqi resistance.

[Boundless]

> Some of those in the Iraqi chain of command were giving
> the impression that they were second guessing what their
> superiors should be telling them.
> "It could be that parts of the regime are working on
> auto-pilot based on what they think they should be doing
> without being properly directed from the top,"

This is what that looks like, from today's press conf in
Baghdad, with Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf answering....

Q. When Saddam would address the Iraqi people?
A. "Next?"
...
Q. Whether he had seen Saddam in the past few days
A "Next? Next? And please ask me something reasonable."

Apparently this guy has always relied on official lies from
above, and can't even make up his own. In this case there
must be no official lies available. The had to know these
two questions would be asked.

Folks, that these questions are "unreasonable", and get no
answer, is astonishing.

[pgkdan]

Contrary to what much of the media may think, we are winning...

Of course we are...may God Bless our coalition.

[garbanzo]

Saddam Hussein's regime appears to be falling to pieces fast and parts of it are already working on "auto-pilot" with no proper directions from the top, Tony Blair was told last night.

There's an orchestra but no conductor.

[TADSLOS]

Yep. We're fighting through the last desperate, dying gasps.

[SolutionsOnly]

This is good news, but I hope we keep playing it as if the regime were at 110%.

The lack of anti-aircraft fire over Bahgdad seems very suspicious.

The news that Russians are supplying anti-tank missiles and night vision capabilites makes me think that we should keep thinking worst case scenario for a while longer.

Press on!

[Chi-townChief]

Bump

'Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of the Defence Staff, briefed an emergency meeting of the war Cabinet at Downing Street, telling it that coalition forces were making "real progress" and, notwithstanding accidents, that the campaign was proceeding "according to plan".'

Is it too soon to start considering Baghdad? If the Iraqis put up a strong resistance, how do our guys capture it without destroying it like Berlin in 1945 or the two battles of Seoul in 1950 and 1951 among others? I know that what I think doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but maybe there's some former military people here on FR that couls comment. Thanks ahead of time.

[merrin]

Regime falling to pieces, Blair told

Damn that Robin Cook!

Saddam Hussein's regime appears to be falling to pieces....

Oh, Saddam's regime.

[Pamlico]

I have heard much about how great Mr. Blair has been, No doubt he has been of the staure of Thatcher and Churchill, but I was wondering if you could describe the feelings (public anyway) of Her Majesty and family. I have thought that the Queen would be with us given what she went through during WWII, but I have always felt that her eldest son has had trouble thinking clearly. What is the inside story?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Reagan is King]

I guess we should ask the Russians if we should start supplying the Chechens with missiles and night vision equipment.

[js1138]

We are encountering the cornered rat syndrome. The remaining chain of command has nothing to lose by being killed in action. That would be preferable to being dealt with by their own people after the war.

[tiki]

Of course we are there is no doubt who the victors will be but we are civilized and hurting for our fallen men and their families.

[Professional]

Saddam & Osama. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Shopping in Vegas. Alive. Dead. Alive...

[Professional]

Saddam & Osama. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Alive. Dead. Shopping in Vegas. Alive. Dead. Alive...

Ooops, I forgot the "wounded", or slightly injured stories. I'm hoping that just like Monty, the flesh wounds are a wee bit worse than claimed.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, morale here at home may be taking some hits today. For the troops that have fallen into danger, my prayers that their hearts stay strong. God, please may their captors remember their humanity and show mercy.

Our troops still in the action are not saturated with bad news, and will continue to move forward with confidence that they are the best in the world.

They plow forward. Still as good as they were before.