Update: Iraqi Units Reported Moving to Challenge U.S. Troops

Washington Post ^ | 3/26/03 | Thomas W. Lippman and William Branigin

[jimbo123]

...U.S. military officials said the convoy leaving Baghdad consisted of 1,000 vehicles that were believed to contain fighters hoping to reinforce Iraqi forces engaging U.S. troops near Najaf. The movement was detected about 4 p.m. (8 a.m. EST). "Something big and metal is moving," one radio operator reported.

About two hours later, U.S. jets began bombing the front of the convoy after receiving confirmation that the column carried militiamen. Eventually, B-52s flew over, dropping 500-pound bombs every 500 meters along the length of the convoy. The casualty total was not immediately known, but the attack appeared to add significantly to the Iraqi militia losses in recent days.

[commish]

What your seeing is known as an Arc Light (or a reasonable Facsimile) -- Basically this would have been a handful of B-52's dropping in succession with the Bombs overlapping each other. Basically a 5 to 10 mile stretch of death and destruction.

And depending on how many bombs they were carrying the BUFFs may have been circling doing multiple passes.

[Samurai_Jack]

I may not have the tactical prowess of SMEDLEY... but my first guess was that they sought the cover of the sandstorm to try to mount a surprise attack on the western flank of the advancing coalition infantry.

They obviously were not anticipating that coalition satellites would be able to see the engine heat through the sandstorm. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer?

[Mark17]

Shouldn't this read ...U.S. military officials said the convoy leaving Baghdad consisted of 1,000 targets...

LOL, I was just listening to Newt Gingrich on Sean Hannity, and that is exactly the term he used.

[finnman69]

[Congressman Billybob]

Now, class let's review what we have. The Iraqi convoy (of Toyotas and other cutting edge military vehicles) started out on a road south of Baghdad. The coordinates of every part of that road are well-known to the US Air Force. JDAMS can have those coordinates, every 500 years, entered into their memories. Then those bombs can land where they're programmed, even through a sand storm.

What do we have, class? We have an occasion that calls for singing the "Saddam Song." All together now:

"Ka-boom, Ka-boom, Sha-da-da-da-da-da-da, Sha-da-da-da-da-da-da
Life could be a dream...."

Very good, class. You are now well ahead of most of the press, light years ahead of Peter Arnett.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, not yet up on UPI, and FR, "The A-MAA-zing War Wizard"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[Wild Irish Rogue]

"it sucks that the B-52s have to travel so far to reach the target severely limiting their availability"

Any idea why we are not using Diego Garcia for the B 52s, like we did in GW I ??

[AFPhys]

Saadumb was allowed to keep much in the way of conventional and other primarily defensive weaponry.

[Poohbah]

Another possibility: JSTARS radar planes simply looked for a long line of vehicles.

This is right up there with the M1A2 Abrams beercanning a Toyota pickup truck.

Straight outta "Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now"

Loader: "Hey, driver! Don't take the speedbumps so fast!"

[Republic]

It just seems natural that the evil leaders in Iraq would move at least one large contigent out-hoping our ground troops backtrack to engage them....and what a perfect time to release chemical weapons.

[Toskrin]

I agree. The aerial assaults have tremendous psychological impact. We haven't really engaged any RG units ouselves - all of them have come to us, with the same result each time.

Those RG units are taking a pounding from the air, and have no one to fight back with. They scream at their commanders - "Why aren't we doing anything?" So they do what any reasonable person standing in a field of falling bombs does - they move. Only it is the wrong thing to do. They figure anything is better than getting slowly destroyed by bombs. Wrong again.

[gimmealewinsky]

"Hord'oeurves?"

Do I detect a bit of a frenchie?
haha

[spokeshave]

" "Eventually, B-52s flew over, dropping 500-pound bombs every 500 meters along the length of the convoy."

NO no no....that is supposed to be 50 Meters

[Texas_Jarhead]

no idea whatsoever

[aught-6]

Gonna have to put some ice on that!

[RippleFire]

One of my posts on another thread:

A better new name for the "French Dip" would be the "Chirac"

[GLDNGUN]

I'm really confused, sitting here with only CNN radio to listen to and FR to monitor. CNN radio is reporting that "some" are saying this big convoy is heading south for a confrontation with the Coalition, while they are also reporting that CentComm is saying that they are "not aware" of any significant Iraqi troop movement south, other than some minor defensive redeployment. Now, here the WashPost seems to indicate that we are wiping some convoy out. Talk about the "Fog of War". Anyone care to offer an explanation?

This brings up a bigger issue. On one hand, I know our officers and officials would never give out any info helpful to the enemy, but on the other hand, I don't see how all the info out there isn't helpful to the enemy. If there is a convoy moving south, thinking that we can't detect them through the sandstorm, why would we let them know that we know what they are doing? I have seen this time and again. I'm sitting here thinking that the Iraqi commanders are watching the American networks' war coverage, and using all this information to their advantage, knowing what divisions are where. If it wasn't for the specific reporting how would they have any idea of who is where? I absolutely relish all the info I can get, but not at the expense of compromising the mission in any way.

Perhaps there are several explanations. Maybe half of the info is DISinfo, and the Iraqis don't know what to believe, but it would seem to be next to impossible to get the media/reporters to participate in propaganda. Any thoughts?

Overall, I believe the Coalition is doing an excellent job. While the terrorists tactics of the "deadenders" is unfortunate, I really don't think it's much more than a minor inconvenience in the overall scheme of things. I like to compare this campaign to a football game. We are marching the ball down the field, running it down the throat of the opposition. Some elements of the media want to focus on a block away from the play that is less than a pancake, and say we are meeting "fierce resistance", but we are still getting first down after first down.

[montomike]

I think they are flying out of England so that the Islaminazis and Peace-dorks can watch the takeoffs and weep!

[narby]

About all the press.

About all the Iraqis can do, once they see something on the tube they want to respond to, is send someone out to re-inforce, etc. They know SOME of the places were at, but they don't know ALL the places were at. So they don't really know enough from the tube to do anything effective.

Also, if they make any response at all, they must put people on the road. Exactly what we want. We DO NOT want a house-to-house fight in a city. So we drive out into the desert, tell them we're there, and wait awhile. Blammo.

Also, the most important part of the war is the political war. How we handle that will affect how the peace, or not peace, is maintained for decades in the future. And, it will affect our domestic politics for decades as well.

The great patriotic comming together in WWII happened because for the first couple of years many thought we just might loose to Hitler and Tojo. That solidarity carried us through a lot of the cold war, until the politics of Vietnam killed much of it. The Vietnam politics has carried the left ever since, and its Geo. Bush's duty to dramatically redefine our domestic politics away from the leftists.

If he plays it right, a big if at that. Then our side will hold sway for many years. Considering the fact that our domestic politics will shape future conflicts, (or deter them) that's worth a lot.

[Ole Okie]

Hey, they're just trying to run us out of bombs and ammo.

[chainsaw]

BillyBob, I feel better already