Major battle shaping up south of Baghdad

Agence France-Presse | March 26, 2003

[MEG33]

The French gleefully await our air support to be grounded.

[EternalVigilance]

Come on out and play, boys...

[org.whodat]

Your headline is wrong, It should say, Major asskicking for a bunch of whackies is shaping up.

[stanz]

When are they going to use those MOABs?

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for the beginning of an historical event.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

This thread should have a "french Poodle Sh*T" alert.

[El Gato]

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf said Wednesday that more than 500 civilians were wounded and 200 homes destroyed in US and British bombardment of Nasiriyah.

Since he has no contact with Nasiriyah, how the hell would he know? Answer: He got them out that part of his anatomy where the sun don't shine.

[Beck_isright]

One simple rule; if they use VX, we use small tacticals. That will expedite the end of the war as the other Guard divisions will not want to commit suicide in that way. World opinion be damned.

V

[El Gato]

When are they going to use those MOABs?

It's not clear that some those explosions we saw in Baghdad weren't MOABs. If they weren't, I'm not sure I want to see a MOAB going off any closer than 20 or 30 miles.

[r9etb]

Since when did AFP start talking English, as opposed to Babelfish?

[rageaholic]

I get the feeling Sodumb's sucessor doesn't want the Army in Bagdud, its a threat to the regime.

[Uncle Miltie]

Here's to clear skies and long lines of Iraqi vehicles. Happy hunting!

[r9etb]

This thread should have a "french Poodle Sh*T" alert.

Not true. AFP is a pretty good news source.

[dennis1x]

nuclear will never happen so give it up alert.

[Mister Magoo]

This is a desperate gamble, if true. But I wouldn't say it's necessarily a stupid one. If the Iraqis sit still, they will be pounded from the air and outflanked on the ground. The only chance they have to score a tactical victory is to bring an armored assault under cover of sandstorm. I don't think it will work, however, simply due to the superiority of our ground forces. If the sandstorm lifts, it's buh-bye to the Guard.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The sandstorm presented a unique opportunity to get close enough for the Iraqis to do a bit of damage. Unfortunately for them the sand storm is over and the dust is settling.

My opinion is that the Republican Guard (maybe Saddam himself) believed the propaganda reports of "successes" near Najaf and decided that they would use the sandstorm as an opportunity to try to drive them back from the town. They will very soon learn the hazards of believing your own propaganda.

[JoeSchem]

The Iraqis were said to be on the move in the middle of a lingering sand storm that has cut visibility drastically and hampered the ability of US forces to play their ace -- the tank-busting Apache helicopters.

Lest anyone think God is on their side, the sand storm will soon end, and the end result is that the Iraqis will have been drawn out from under cover -- and exposed to Apache helicopter attack.

[ambrose]

Hello, Republican Guard. Come and play with us. Come and play with us. Forever. And Ever. And Ever.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Weather in Najaf

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/local/IZXX0013?letter=N&lswe=iraq&lswa=WeatherLocalUndeclared