[George W. Bush]

Note to Saddam: you drop one of these bombs on our troops, and it will be the last thing you ever do.

The problem is that we almost can't. We're liberating Iraq and that restrains us considerably. We're not likely to encounter Saddam or Republican Guard outside populated areas. So if we retaliated, we'd kill a lot of civilians.

We have to shoot down anything in the air. Hopefully, he's never made artillery shells to deliver gas. But we need to bomb every artillery piece we can find as well.

[tet68]

. H opefully, he's never made artillery shells to deliver gas

As I understand it, we have found 15 of the 3 to 6 thousand
he had made, the others? Good question.

[null and void]

We're not likely to encounter Saddam or Republican Guard outside populated areas. So if we retaliated, we'd kill a lot of civilians.

pit-ty

[Zebra]

I remain convinced that the entire reason for the delay in prosecuting the war has been to allow th in-country special ops and on-ground intelligence personnel to devise a rapid capitualtion strategy that minimizes the loss of allied military and covilian lives. My guess is that this work is near completion.

The horror scenario isn't that Hussein visits horrible weapons like this on our troops--the difficulty of delivering such weapons effectively against the type of light, mobile force we will send is immense. Rather, it is that he will deploy these weapons against large civilian targets. Our military leaders know that he knows that he will never survive the invasion--thus, he has nothing to lose and will likely act accordingly.

The delay in moving has been to allow our forces to interdict those units that will remain loyal to Hussein to the end--the ones who can execute his orders. These units are comprised of those most likely to bear the brunt of vengeance from the liberated, formerly oppressed. They, too, have little to lose.

Exhaustive planning is the hallmark of successful wars. The hand wringers in the media grossly overestimate the capabilities of the Iraqis (whose military is roughly 1/3 the Gulf War size and equipped with weaponry that has felt the effects of 12 years of sanctions) and their willingness to mix it up once Uncle Sam starts shooting. Likewise, the media grossly underestimate the caliber of our current weaponry and tactics.

The delay has permitted thorough planning and intelligence gathering that will minimize the loss of civilian and allied lives. The hot part of this engagement will be less than 96 hours.

[happygrl]

Since we can't nuke Iraq if they use this on us, can we nuke France ?