[goldstategop]

Saddam reprises the Salah Shehadeh "human shields" strategy. Film at 11.

[demlosers]

"I don't think Hussein would survive long," said one former CIA official with extensive experience in the region. "But that's the problem: We don't know what the breaking point is for his supporters. Does a solid month of B-52 strikes do it, or do we need people on the ground?"

Are they willing to die for Saddam? You need good human intel.

[mikesmad]

This is great. We march in, take over the oil fields, pump oil like crazy, and wait for the civilian population to rise up and overthrough Saddam and his cronies or starve to death.

All we have to do is contain them in their cities. Anyone that sticks their head out without a white flag with Saddams head on the end of it, loses theirs.

[Long Cut]

Just one very cool, awesome word:

STRATOFORTRESS!!!!!

[Stentor]

"..he's no general."

[lepton]

Makes it easy to set up airbases INSIDE Iraq, which would greatly lessen the logistical tails, and ease some of the diplomacy with his neighbors supplying us bases.

[lepton]

Military analysts consider it likely that U.S. soldiers would face chemical or biological weapons if they fought an urban battle in Baghdad because Hussein would have little to lose.

Except his own soldiers, and their families.

[1Old Pro]

Does a solid month of B-52 strikes do it, or do we need people on the ground?"

Well, a solid month is a good start, Let's Roll!

[Nexus]

Can we PLEASE start the air war NOW!!! What the hell are we waiting for...

[Long Cut]

Memo to So-Dumb Insane:
From: The U.S. of frickin' A.:
Subject: Idiocy

Lips, screwing with a country that uses these:

has never proven to work well. Enjoy!

P.S. Glad you're feelin' good, BI-atch!

[Pistolshot]

1982.7.23 [U. S. A.] Additional production of neutron bombs by President R.Reagan. 2200 bombs including those for NATO army.

Gee, I wonder if these are gonna be used this time???

[Young Werther]

Surround Baghdad and lay seige to the city. With no food or water, how long will they last?

[Dead Corpse]

If they are going to use chem weapons on us in their cities, they should be considered fair game.

Problem solved.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Saddam is a fool if he does that.  All we have to do is contain him in the cities.  We wouldn't have to actually attack.  Let's set out about 5 to 10 mile away, and as he attacks, we take him out.  Anytime he opens up with artillery or scuds, we take them out.  While he is interdicted, we have the entire countryside and do some nation building.  All it takes is patience.  Eventually, he will have to come out to fight, and it will be just like shooting ducks in a barrel.

[joesnuffy]

This will backfire on him....the world will see him for the butcher he truly is..and his complete lack of care for his own people...They will die but the world will condemn him...
And if they dont.....WGAS

[Question_Assumptions]

OK. Bottle them up in the cities. Nothing in and nothing out. It's worked for thousands of years.

[Publius6961]

"The end result is likely to be that Iraq would succeed in launching some (weapons of mass destruction) strikes against U.S. coalition forces, targets in neighboring states, and/or Israel," Anthony Cordesman, a military strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,

And how exactly do they plan to do that from an urban area without communications, fire and control centers, food and weapons warehouse and storage areas, support supplies?

Remember, you are talking about normally 5 million people plus his entire army and associated equipment.

[marron]

There is no need to lay siege to anything.

The Republican Guard's choices are to hide in town, where they are irrelevant; to mass for an attack, where they are vulnerable to annihilation; or scatter and resort to small unit guerrilla tactics. In that case, also, they are fairly irrelevant, and manageable.

Assuming we get to choose the moment the war begins, it begins with airstrikes focused on the Republican Guard. The Iraqi Army would be leafleted, with the invitation to remain in their bases.

The attempt by Guard units to fall back to Baghdad makes them even more vulnerable to air strikes, with the exception of those soldiers already in Baghdad.

The seizure of the oilfields settles the question. They must come out to play, and they must come to us, which makes them, again, vulnerable to an aerial pounding.

This is imminently do-able.

The Iraqi hope of an alliance with Syria is a fool's hope. The moment Syria enters the fray, the IDF will cross the line headed toward the Damascus city limits.

Saddam's only hope militarily is to attack concentrations of US troops with whatever WMD he has on hand, and to do it now, before we are ready, and to hope that the body count is enough to change the political scene in Washington. It probably won't work, it will probably have the reverse effect, but with elections coming, it is his only chance.

A better plan would be to make a some significant payoffs to key politicians, through third parties, in order to make the required shift in the political landscape. It could be done through PR firms, or through bogus PAC's, but it has to be very deniable and well camoflaged, even from the politician himself. Iraq should also have their favorite PR firm digging for dirt on every hawk who is up for re-election.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Perhaps it's time to drop thousands of "Liberator" pistols.