***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 10 - LIVE THREAD***

Everywhere! | 29 Mar 2003 | An.American.Expatriate

[null and void]

Good Morning.

This is the Daily Thread of Operation Iraqi Freedom - LIVE THREAD.

It is designed for general conversation about the events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.

Please have mercy on us dial up limited FReepers! Limit the big graphics, post links instead. A breif description of what the graphic is would help:

To all who helped this get started, thank you!

Special thanks to An.American.Expatriate for staring the daily threads, Mo1 for the screamer, the AdminMods for their tolerance, mhking for the video links, and, of course, Belly Girl...

[Straight Vermonter]

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yeah right. real sharp there, cook.

"Greem fileds" are where you put our paychecks and bank receipts.

"Green Fields" are where the paratroopers file their targets. 6 feet under.

[stlnative]

Yes... but why was he not with Saddam they night we hit the bunker? I mean would he not be by Saddam's side when the bunker got hit and why is he not dead also?

I starting to wonder if Saddam may have died quite sometime ago, like the rumors that he died of Cancer years ago... Maybe all these years we have seen Saddam Doubles and his Son's were running the country and they were inside the bunker when we hit it.

[Miss Marple]

There is one other possibility, Dog. If Saddam is severely injured and perhaps disfigured, he may have sent the bodyguard as a "minder" to the Information Minister, to make sure he trumpets the party line. No TV surrenders, for example. The Information Minister may be speaking with a gun in his back.

Personally, I think Saddam is dead, too, but I always try to look at all possibilities.

[Dog]

Is this the same bodyguard??

[Not A Snowbird]

Rant on. You earned it.

[Miss Marple]

You have put forth an interesting and plausible idea. Good thinking!

[Cboldt]

I still wish someone would arrange for a mugging in New York.

Too private for this character. His demise needs to be more public -or- spectacular.

As for bugging embassies, etc., I trust we are prudent.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Unconscious, or more likely drugged out to stop the pain of internal injuries.

If he were permanetly unconscious, killing him/replacing him would be easier than if he were infrequently awake and had bodyguards around.

[merrin]

From Jed Babbin:

There is more, much more, than is being reported about the suicide bombing that killed four Americans earlier today. And from a very credible source, I have heard enough to convince me I had to correct something I wrote this morning. This suicide attack does represent an evolution of this war to something far uglier than we may be prepared to deal with. The suicider was not, as the Iraqi vice president announced, an Iraqi army officer. He was a member of Hamas--or possibly a Saudi--and one of many terrorists that are embedded throughout Iraq. This is no longer a war to remove the threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and liberate Iraq. Yes, those still are part of our objectives. But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world.

[Dog]

We keep hitting the same stop in Baghdad night after night....what is under the telecommunication building.

[Cboldt]

But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world

I think most of the regulars at FR know this. Iraq is a tough and just fight, but not the only fight. Iraq is probably not the toughest fight, but it is a smart place to start.

This is no longer a war to remove the threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and liberate Iraq.

Bull. Just because there is something beyond that, doesn't mean "that" is no longer an objective.

[Sparky760]

But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world.

If this is true then this war has just stepped up on the justice scale. It's not pretty but it is time for these scum to be dealt with in no uncertain terms. There is only one message terrorists will understand and it's not diplomacy.

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

Thanks Straight ! Here's my first pic post. All hail "Patriot Girl"

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I think we have someone close enough to know...who ratted them out that first night. It's possible others were running things, or that the bodyguard took a lucky potty break. How hellish that country is!

Makes me want to smack Kofi Annan.

[Straight Vermonter]

I think we should welcome the decision by the terrorists to enter this fight. It could become the terrorist version of the Battle of Jutland.

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

"If Saddam is severely injured and perhaps disfigured, he may have sent the bodyguard as a "minder" to the Information Minister, to make sure he trumpets the party line. No TV surrenders, for example. The Information Minister may be speaking with a gun in his back."

Miss Marple, I agree with you. I think they're "circling their wagons" or trying to "keep their ship afloat" as long as possible.

I also think they're trying desperately to get Saddam back to his "normal" condition.

It looks to me like thery're using this time as a bridge in time...

[Dog]

B-52's departing England please place your seats in the upright position and prepare for takeoff.

[Miss Marple]

Well, we have three theories, all with plusses and minuses.

1. Saddam died in the bombing, or shortly thereafter.
2. Saddam died a while ago, and his sons, killed in the bombing, were running the show.
3. Saddam is incapacitated and is keeping control through loyalists and bodyguards.

All three of these theories do have one thing in common: the bombing on the first night of the war was a masterstroke, because it has seriously incapacitated the regime's ability to control the country.

[StriperSniper]

he may have sent the bodyguard as a "minder" to the Information Minister, to make sure he trumpets the party line.

The Iraqi on Fox just posed the same theory.