I say capture, search and get out.
I say capture, search and get out.
Yeah, I was stunned to see our guys hanging around Saddam's presidential palace so casually.
I saw the amazing live video of these events early this AM (somewhere around 1:30-4AM EDT) on Fox News. Greg Kelly embedded with the 3rd ID provided some of most amazing, historic video of the storming of Baghdad, Saddam's presidential palace(s), Saddam's parade grounds and the inside of Saddam's presidential palace... the gold-plated toilets, bidets, faucets, portraits of Saddam everywhere in the palace, and video of some of the destruction we caused during that first night of bombing.
There was video of our guys lounging in Saddam's gardens "among the pansies" (as reporter Greg Palkot coined it), soldiers touring the palace room by room, as if they were tourists ... they inspected Saddam's personal video library... said Saddam has an extensive collection of VHS and DVD movies... Greg Kelly said Saddam has a copy of "Pulp Fiction"! LOL
Members of the 3rd ID (I think) were joking how they "were going to go in Saddam's personal bathroom, turn on those solid gold faucets, and take long, long showers!" Our guys were really cocky. I was enjoying it all, but extremely worried that the place was booby-trapped or something.
As our guys were touring Saddam's palace, Baghdad Bob came on live (about 2:30AM ET). He was standing on the street (NOT in the Ministry of Information, which I believe the Coalition had captured), babbling on and on in complete denial that the Americans had taken Baghdad. Fox did a great split screen of Baghdad Bob on the left, our guys storming the presidential palace on the right. Then, as Bagdad Bob was continuing to babble (no kidding, even the translator was cracking up at the nonsense he was spewing!), Fox changed its screen on the right to show - LIVE - our forces blowing up the huge statue of "a defiant Saddam Hussein" on a horse! It was hysterically funny!
As I went to bed (ahem... when Fox & Friends was just starting.. 6AM), I thought I heard Greg Kelly mention they had discovered the entrance to some underground tunnels in the palace, but I can't verify that.
I don't know what was going on on the other channels, but Fox News has to win some sort of award (Emmy?) for Greg Kelly's and cameraman Mal James' reporting this morning... it was truly incredible!
If you want to check out the "play-by-play" of these events as they unfolded this morning, here's the live thread we were on:
Broadcasting LIVE from Saddam's House, downtown Baghdad, iiiiiit's FOX NEWS!