[wretchard]

This is the new kind of seige that Ralph Peters was talking about in his article "Trapped". It calls for the maintenance of a semblance of normalcy within an invested city. That normalcy provides the environment for Allied intelligence assets to roam the city, noting a bunker here, a checkpoint there and in this case, a meeting in a specific place.

There's probably a standing close air support group hovering over soutnern Iraq at any time, so that meetings like this can be caught if they persist for more than 15 minutes. All that is needed is an agent with a GPS receiver and a compass to plot azimuth from his position. The Brits have also used snatch teams to swoop down on a Basra street and pick up individuals.

[Professional]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. I'd imagine that the forces inside the city will become so paranoid after a while, they either start shooting themselves, or make a mad dash out, like those tanks did the other day in Basra.

[zarf]

Bingo. Your analysis is quite correct. We have been training Shiite and other indigenous forces to filter into regional cities to do just what you wrote. This will not be your fathers siege of Baghdad.