Posted on 08/08/2002 4:57:18 PM PDT by Pokey78
IRAQ plans to avoid desert battlefields and instead lure invading US troops into the hazards of urban warfare, US intelligence officials said. The strategy would place millions of Iraqi civilians in the way of an aerial bombardment from US aircraft while threatening to maximise casualties among US ground troops. This interpretation raises the spectre of US forces struggling through the streets of Baghdad in chemical weapons suits, while Iraqi forces snipe at them using a warren of underground tunnels and bunkers to escape. It also plays on American fears of street-fighting against an unpredictable foe. The 1993 debacle on the streets of Mogadishu, when 18 US soldiers were killed by Somali rebels, the subject of the film Black Hawk Down, affected US foreign policy for the rest of the Clinton Administration. The urban scenario is based on the accounts of Iraqi defectors and an assessment by the Pentagon war planners. The Los Angeles Times reported that President Saddam Hussein has told his officials to be prepared for urban fighting. His ploy derives in part from the lessons of the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraqi tanks and forces were easy prey for the coalition’s air superiority. Pentagon officials have already begun to try and factor the risks of street-fighting into their war plans. One of the strategies leaked in recent weeks envisaged an “inside-out” assault on Iraq, which aimed to cripple Saddam’s command by striking Baghdad first, as opposed to a ground invasion from the north, south, and possibly west. Such a strike could be launched swiftly, with as much surprise as remains possible for an attack that, although months away, has been so heavily telegraphed. It would require around 70,000 US troops, either in the region or within striking distance. Although the eventual number of US troops to be amassed in the Gulf would be far greater, an “inside-out” attack could be launched while forces were still arriving. Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst with the Brookings Institution, said that street-fighting, and all the additional dangers to Iraqi civilians and US forces involved, was a “foregone conclusion” if the US invaded. “Saddam won’t fight out in the desert,” he said. “We’d win decisively. “But it’s a tough kind of war. I’m not sure President Bush has fully signed up to that kind of war.” US military chiefs believe their high-tech weaponry is precise enough to hit targets in cities. The technology that produced cruise missiles that could turn the corners of Baghdad streets in the Gulf War has improved dramatically. In Operation Desert Storm, less than 8 per cent of the munitions dropped over Iraq were precision guided. That figure rose to 35 per cent in the 1998 Kosovo conflict, and to 56 per cent in Afghanistan. Saddam would know, however, that any missiles that strayed off target to hit civlian workplaces or accomodation, as many did in Afghanistan, would heighten international opposition to the war. Although reserves of precision-guided missiles were heavily depleted by the war in Afghanistan, munitions manufacturers have bolstered supplies, and despite initial doubts about their availability, the Pentagon is confident in a few months it will have enough for a war with Iraq. Saudi officials offered further complications for US war strategists when they said that the US would not be allowed to use Saudi air bases to launch attacks on Iraq.
You killed your own people
Shot your own servants
True to you they may have been
Death to you is now your freind
Just matter of time saddam
Just a matter of place
We and our allies will wipe you from the face
From this planet called earth such a lovely place
And let this be a warning
To all those who oppose
We will not be bloodied nor Torn or Thrown
From wiping out evil where ever it grows
The taliban did not stand nor hitler and his creed
To the saudis who love him and follow his way
Your next on the list
Of the axis of evil who must not exist
To osama bin ladin
Be you alive or dead
Just show us your face and we will end it in red
The only justice for you is to end up dead
Your sons may follow and end up the same
And nobody will care if you all die in vane
And if you are dead
And many hope you are
We hope your saving room in hell
For your family and the like
They will be following soon
To join you and your goats and your pigs in the orgy
Because virgins arent on the list you think your dieing for
But rancid whores and blisters from flame
You will be suffering in that place that carries many names
And so in closing we can tell you this
America will stand and will fight and will win
Giving up is not in our hearts but justice is in its place
Death will find you Osama and Saddam and all those who carry on in your name
You will die by the ARMY the NAVY the AIR FORCE and MARINES GOD BLESS THEM ALL
So to all those who follow these evil men
Look over your shoulder look under the bed
Because our SPECIAL FORCES will leave YOU DEAD !
A_P
They'll be wearing leather and brandishing switchblades. After all, Once you're a Jet you're a Jet....
Oops, I should have read all the posts before posting. Yep, this seems like a good option to me.
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