These Republican Guards are the ones that have been protecting Saddam all these years, right? If that's so, I don't know how they can say getting rid of the folks wouldn't be Liberation. We SHOULD just blow these guys off the face of the earth, I agree. But if some get back into Baghdad, that shouldn't stop us from finishing the job, right? I think the average Iraqi on the street would be glad to see them go.The American intention is to bring the Republican Guards to battle outside Baghdad and not allow them to get back into the city.
That gives US forces an advantage because they can use their firepower in the desert or countryside. Otherwise, as one US colonel put it, it becomes a "knife fight in a telephone booth".
If the war ends in a damaging siege it will undermine, and possibly destroy, the concept that this is a war of liberation.
Street fighting in Baghdad in which civilians are killed is not supposed to be the way it ends.
Many folk in Baghdad have deserted the city and fled for the relative safety of rural surrounding areas is my understanding.
As JH2 says, just my 2 cents.
. . .and WELL worth the $$. :O)
But if some get back into Baghdad, that shouldn't stop us from finishing the job, right? I think the average Iraqi on the street would be glad to see them go.
Right now the average Iraqi is sitting this war out. They are waiting to see which way the wind blows. If you were an Iraqi, you would too. After all, Saddam has his thugs going around killing people. For thirty years the average Iraqi has survived by keeping his head down and his mouth shut.
But remember, this is a regime that builds loyalty out of fear and malice. It cannot inspire people to stand with it forever.
I strongly suspect that V Corps will go ahead and exact a vicious price on the Medina, the Hammurabi, and the Nebuchadnezzar Divisions. They should wait until the sandstorms come and go. That will give us time to bring up the UK 7th Brigade and the First Marine Division. I do not want to attack in the middle of a sandstorm, because if I'm the American commander, I don't want my Apaches and Blackhawks grounded. I don't want my A-10's neutralized. So as we bring up the supplies and the men, let us undertake a 48 hour intensive bombing campaign using every bit of shock and awe we have, including lots of dumb bomb sticks from B-52's. This should allow us to attack with relative ease and, hopefully, make a surprise roll into Baghdad before the local goons can get their act together.
By the way, have you noticed that there's been not one bit of news about the H3 airbase out in the Western Desert? I'm looking for a big surprise to come out of the west. I don't know what or how, but I'm sure that we captured that airbase for a reason.
Be Seeing You,
Chris