This convoy is probably bait, to draw our troops to a point away from Baghdad, to launch a chemical attack.
Posted on 03/26/2003 5:11:22 PM PST by Sabertooth
Allied jets target Republican Guard convoys IRAQI military in Baghdad and Basra were last night risking being wiped out in air attacks by leaving the confines of the cities to confront coalition troops. Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard left the capital in a column of 1,000 vehicles. And up to 120 Iraqi troop vehicles drove out of Basra in a southern direction. Harriers and Tornados flying out of Kuwait attacked the armoured convoys. An RAF source said, "A significant number of British aircraft are involved." It appeared the vehicles were heading towards British troops on the Al Faw peninsula. It is thought Iraqi commanders decided sandstorms around Baghdad would provide cover for the elite troops to journey to the area of the heaviest fighting of the war so far. They may have believed the appalling weather conditions would protect their troops from being decimated by allied air power, much of which has been grounded by sand-storms. But military intelligence had spotted 3,000 Republican Guard moving from the capital to the city of Al Kut, and a further 2,000 were seen to the south of Al Kut. The Iraqi advance appeared to signal that Saddam Hussein's best trained and most loyal force was ready to go on the offensive despite days of allied air strikes and missile attacks on its positions. The Iraqis have already issued their first report of battlefield action by the Republican Guards. A spokesman said a special forces unit attacked coalition troops in south-central Iraq, destroying six armoured vehicles and inflicting an unspecified number of casualties. A US military officer said there had been a fierce battle yesterday for control of a bridge over the River Euphrates at Abu Sukhayr, 13 miles south-east of Najaf. He said an unspecified number of tanks and Bradleys had been destroyed. He believed the US crews, under the command of the 3rd Infantry Division, had escaped the vehicles - but their fate was unknown. Meanwhile Washington announced yesterday it was flying another 30,000 troops from the US to the war zone. The Pentagon admitted it was shifting its battlefield tactics after commanders on the ground said they were surprised by the stiff resistance put up Saddam's paramilitaries.
Mar 27 2003
The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales
Where else have we seen suicidal crazies with no regard for their own lives or anyone else's life. They will charge at M1 tanks in a Toyota pick-up.
They are completely insane -- just like Al Qaeda.
The actual assault will not begin until everyone is in position and ready.
Not for a couple days. The sand storm delayed certain objectives and that is ok.
How about these two possibilities.
They are trying to lure us into coming behind them to cut off a retreat, but in turn we could be caught between the first column, which does a 180, and reinforcements from Baghdad.
or
They plan on using chemical weapons and want to get them away from the capital.
Iraqi regime's loyalists tend to be Ba'athist thugs rather than professional military men. These thugs are probably directing military operations. It is possible that military men are not really trusted by Iraqi leadership. Military may have no choice but to take orders and carry them out, however stupid the orders are.
I am saying this because Saddam's regime had the history of making stupid military moves which decimated their troops. For example, at one point during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam insisted on a frontal assault on an Iranian position without any artillery prep, which killed a lot of Iraqi soldiers.
We do not know exactly what made them do this. But such an incompetence cannot be ruled out.
This convoy is probably bait, to draw our troops to a point away from Baghdad, to launch a chemical attack.
Please let me be wrong...but this doesn't make any sense to me unless they are running from the cities we have to enter.
Could it be that they have left us a nasty booby-trap? (think chem-bio.) It would, of course kill a good number of their people, but we all know that means nothing to them when it is balanced against causing American casualties.
Praying.
Choppers and fixed wing will make quick work of them, and the parts will not be salvageable.
He is holding his guard troops for Bagdad defense.
Got to do something to make them feel good before getting wiped out.
There's a saying in investigative work to the effect of: never suspect a conspiracy so long as incompetence offers an explanation.
Also, their arty will vaporize as we get closer. Mortars will be all that is left. Our armor will take them out as they fire. It will not last long, and we will not stop to smell the roses.
Our guns and tanks far out range the Iraqi guns. Our air will pulverize them. They do not have a friggin chance in hell!
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