"Unlike the American troops, we look the Iraqis in the eye"

The Daily Telegraph U.K. ^ | 4-05-03 | Not attributed

[Grampa Dave]

Thank you, gentlemen. As an old sailor, I had no idea what armor the marines rode in and on today.

[FreedomCalls]

The Telegraph, supposedly the most conservative newspaper in Britain

Hardly. I think the Sun is considered to be far more politically conservative.

[stinkypew]

The Brits did the slugging around Caen so we could break out at Normandy.

My guess is that the Russians and Brits would have beaten Hitler without us, but maybe not without our material aid.

As to the Russian winter, why didn't it beat the Germans in WWI?

And I hate to pull up stuff this old, but anybody ever heard of the "Blandensburg Races"? We got our butts handed to us by the Brits. I mean, c'mon. They burned our capitol.

[No Truce With Kings]

"The British pussyfooted around Basra for two full weeks, scared to venture into battle. The US surged towards Baghdad at full speed in a sandstorm, and conquered Baghdad at darn near the same exact time that Basra truly fell. Good that the Brits are so good at peace, because they are certainly no USA when it comes to war, however imperial their heritage."

The Brits had a different mission in Basrah than the 3rd ID had at Baghdad. Both the US and the UK stayed *out* of the southern cities. We stayed out of al Nasaryah much as the Brits stayed out of Basrah, and for pretty much the same reason. We realized that those cities were Saddam's tarbabies, intended to get us into bloody street fighting. So both countries "pussyfooted" around those cities for a couple of weeks, softening up the defenders.

The original plan -- from what I have inferred -- called for us to do much the same in Baghdad. However, the US battalion commanders on the spot sensed that Baghdad was ready to fold up. So they tried the first "thunder run" through the western city to the airport.

That gave the brigade commanders the confidence to do the second run to the Presidential Palace, at the end of which they called up division and said "can we stay?" Division agreed, and we pretty well junked the original plan and began running through Baghdad like we owned the place. That provided the tipping point.

The Brits in Basrah -- and our troops covering the southern cities -- danced to the tune that Tommy Franks played. Stay out of the cities until the tipping point was reached. The inference that the Brits were too scared to go in but the US wasn't is a bogus as the inference that the Brits have what it takes to garrison a country, but the US don't.

My point is don't let a mutual enemy (the press) break up a beautiful friendship, O. K?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Well there is that little matter called the "Battle Of New Orleans" You do remember in 1814 when some rag tag polyglot of Americans thumped the living hell out of the best England had to offer straight from their victories at Waterloo. It was also the only time the much vaunted "Black Watch" fled the field of battle

[yarddog]

They burned our capital but later we handed them the most one-sided defeat they ever suffered at "New Orleans".

I have never heard of the blandensburg races, what is it?

[stinkypew]

According to Matthew Cooper, "The German Army, 1933-1945," the Russians killed 214,000 Germans between June and November 1944. In the West, 54,000 Germans were killed.

Now that picks up right after D-Day, yet the Russians inflicted 4X the deaths of the U.S. and Brits combined.

[yarddog]

I guess we were thinking of the same thing. You did beat me by a minute.

[stinkypew]

New Orleans was not a fair fight. The British held us in such contempt that they launched a frontal assault, virtually without artillery preparation, on well fortified position. They actually had to carry ladders for the final assault.

[MEG33]

Agree.We have our differences but we also stood together.Please leave this writer's piece in the round file.

[Arthur McGowan]

Like this?

[stinkypew]

Blandensburg was the "battle" outside Washington in 1814. A few of the Congreve rockets and we pretty much cut and ran. Hence the name, "Blandensburg Races."

[yarddog]

Oh goodness, we didn't fight fair.

[stinkypew]

You know what I'm saying. Don't evade the issue. We almost couldn't lose that battle under the conditions.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Perhaps I missed them, but I've seen no articles in American newspapers offering anything but praise for the British troops. I've seen no articles quoting American troops offering other than appreciation for British participation in the war.

I haven't either, and I'm glad of that. It is as it should be.

Unfortunately, you can't count on everyone to have class.

[Prodigal Son]

Do you have a link to the actual story? The source link supplied with the article just takes me to the Telegraph's main page. I'm searching for it but it's always good to have the actual link on the thread for archival purposes.

[yarddog]

No that is not the case. No one forced the British to fight the way they did. If they do something foolish then they are to blame not us.

Now if they had to fight with corn stalks while we were using M 16's, well that would be an unfair fight. Being out generaled is their fault.

[dandelion]

I'm going to say it again, I didn't trash the UK. No one who has any kind of historical knowledge of the second World War thinks saying "we whipped Hitler for them (the Brits)" is trashing Britain.

I'm curious - what do you know about the Atlantic campaign of WWII? Do you know that Britain was attacked, and when we FINALLY came to their aid, it was most welcome?

This is not a disparaging question, it is an honest one. I do NOT see how someone bringing up the American intervention in WWII could be "bashing the Brits"...

[Beck_isright]

You forgot; Monty was going to win WWII single handed until we interfered and set his 20 year plan back.

But I still love the Brits and especially the Scots, they are hell of a good group of soldiers, even if they all can't always vote intelligently.

[EaglesUpForever]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Brits. But their press has bashed America this way and that the whole time... it was particularly sickening when they would imply we were inflicting civilian casualties willy-nilly, but by contrast that was "not the British way." Sure we both stayed out of the south for good reason, but the US took more risks as a result.

I very much appreciate Britain as an ally, but I hope they (including their general population, which like here has far too many leftists) are as true an ally as possible, and don't slide towards the french way of hating us while playing the role of "ally" when it's expedient.