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I asked dh (Marine (R)O-5. AV-8B pilot, been deployed overseas and aboard ship, did a year with 3rd LAR as a FAC, and recently completed several years of reserve time with 4th ANGLICO.) to have a look at this article over my shoulder, and his comment was..."that's actually a pretty good analysis."

What I still don't understand is...if this is true, why didn't we wait to begin the forward movement, so as to time it with the arrival of the division still at sea? Isn't this uh...sort of unsafe, and a risk that gambles with the lives of the U.S. military?

I'm just a military wife, looking for viewpoints other than dh's.

We can live without the additional tanks, IMHO, if we are going to hit the Republican guard outside of Baghdad. If we have to chase them into town WE ARE SCREWWED !

Please remember two things ;

1. The range of enemy artillery is about 13 miles, and we are not nearly that close yet. We can hit them with our rocket assisted artillery rounds (RAP) which have a range of 18 miles. I think that we will stay 14-17 miles from their arty and pound them for a while before we do anything.

2. The Army 4th Heavy Mech Division is only a week or so away. I have read that they are off loading at Saudi Red sea ports as we speak.

Also if you hadn't noticed, God is pounding them with wind, rain, thunder and lightning like Iraq has not seen in 20 years or more. This will greatly mask our positions, for a week or so until 4th mech shows up. Our God IS God !