BASRA now considered military target!

CNN

[Hazzardgate]

Christine Amanpour on CNN reporting breaking news.....Basra now considered open military target

[Frances_Marion]

"Earlier this afternoon Robert Baer(former CIA) reported from Syria that Iran was a factor in much of the resistance in SE Iraq. Both are heavy Shii areas."

Didn't know this. The Iranian regime is skating on thin ice as it is...they can easily become objetive B.

[Mihalis]

When they surrendered, did we not remove their weapons?

I can't believe this has happened !

[FairOpinion]

I thought it was a joke. Surely we didn't let the commander go too?!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Ammanpour is being pretty fair with her reporting. She did point out that the civilians in Basrah are likely being prevented from welcoming the Allies by the armed militias.

[whadizit]

OK

[tomahawk]

Iraqi T-55 tanks are no match for British Challenger II's.

Also, we have 3 carriers plus other air wings in the area that can lay down cluster munitions if the Iraqis try to break containment.

This can be dealt with.

[WRhine]

"Never trust an arab/persian or any middle east types whilst on their soil. They are the biggest liars in the world."

Still more prudent is to not trust them on ANY soil, for the same reason.

Tell that to the Administration and Congress. They seem to think we need more arab/persian/middle east types in America. All in the name of "Diversity" of course.

[applemac_g4]

It means that the surrender was a sham, and this was the Iraqi strategy from the get go...lure our forces deep into the interior of the country with long supply lines, and then engage in guerilla warfare against the rear.

[Concerned]

APPLEMAC_G4 WROTE: "It means that the surrender was a sham, and this was the Iraqi strategy from the get go...lure our forces deep into the interior of the country with long supply lines, and then engage in guerilla warfare against the rear."

This is ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!!!!!!

WHY on God's green earth (or beige sand) would we LET THE ENEMY GO?????

The "BRILLIANT" one (NOT!) who thought of that idea should be LEFT in Iraq!!!

[Unknowing]

We should really take a hard line with Basra, because I think that Iraqi resistance is trying to draw us into a very bloody street fight for this non-strategic city.

Frankly, I think that the armed forces should respond with quite enough ground presence in order to prevent any excursions from Basra, being wary of Iraqi armor hidden there, while simultaneously utilizing copious aerial bombardment on a scale sufficient to inflict wide destruction and great confusion upon (the enemy). Basically a "blockade and bomb" operation.

Entering this city in order to pacify it seems explicitly dangerous in light of the apparent concentration of Iraqi resistance therein. The Iraqi resistance want to recreate a Muqdisho, Somalia scenario, seemingly, to inflict casualties through all kinds of BS and lies behind lies. This is their cloak-and-dagger ploy to cause harm to their liberators, IMHO.

So maybe just cause various really bad disasters in their city, allow nobody to leave without attracting heavy weapons fire, blow their bridges and bulldoze their roads.

Then, on second thought, stupid me could be dead wrong.

[sheik yerbouty]

We don't give a shi'ite about offending the effendis. Perhaps the Iraqi Army should wear its uniform instead of invoking the jihadist tradition of hiding behind women and children by wearing civilian clothes.

[Jim Noble]

>>We need to shift strategic focus from the decapitation of the regime to the destruction of the Iraqi Army<<

Operation Iraqi Freedom will have to wait until Operation Destroy Iraqi Armed Forces is complete.

Surely they planned for this?

[FreedomPoster]

>>We don't give a shi'ite about offending the effendis. Perhaps the Iraqi Army should wear its uniform instead of invoking the jihadist tradition of hiding behind women and children by wearing civilian clothes.

As soon as they take off their uniforms, and continue to bear arms, they lose the POW protections of the Geneva Convention, and are subject to summary execution as saboteurs and spies.

The summary executions for those wearing civilian cloths and bearing arms against us need to start NOW.

[jpthomas]

Actually, I read that the POW we captured a few days ago was a low ranking Iraqi soldier posing as the commanding general in order to receive better treatment as a POW. This may also have been part of a misinformation campaign.

[mykdsmom]

From the looks of this picture, we can't even trust the women.

[finnman69]

No more Mr. Nice Guy!

[kjam22]

WHY on God's green earth (or beige sand) would we LET THE ENEMY GO?????

Iraq has 25 million people in it. At least 1 out of 5 hate our guts. It's pretty tough to capture, house and feed 5 million people. So we either kill all of them (if we have enough bullets) or .....

[ChadGore]

Re : open military target

What exactly does that mean ?

[sheikdetailfeather]

Imperative. I just read a couple of articles from the Times Online uk (Drudge) and they figure we won't hit civilian targets so a lot of them are in there.

[FReepaholic]

>>...Explain what the problem is and the Mods will take care of it...<<

The Mods Squad!