***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 5 - LIVE THREAD***

Everywhere! | 23 Mar 2003 | An.American.Expatriate

[killjoy]

NOW you're doubted Oliver North?

I am doubting everything in this war. It is called PR and disinformation. I simply said that since North works for Fox I don't think he would put out a statement saying, "The troops here are only watching MSNBC." Take it for what it is worth.

[Miss Marple]

We will try to accomodate your request. Do you have any news to contribute which you might have picked up on another site? Or are you simply reading and depending on people like me to provide you with information?

If it is the latter, I will try to be as helpful as possible, but this is a live thread, and during slow news times you are going to have to read some fluff. Them's the breaks.

[Carolina]

BeebDweeb interviewing military analyst Ellie Goldbury (sp?). Trying to get her to say "quagmire." She's not buying. She says the "pockets of resistance" are contained. Agrees with the Allied goal of going for Baghdad. Calling it "effects-based warfare."

Go, Ellie!

[prairiebreeze]

Pix of SF anti-war demos. Obstructing entrances to federal bldgs. Also saying we should take the $$ we are spending on the war and spend it on education instead.

Okaaaaay.....What part of chemical weapon do you not understand?

Prairie

[mtbopfuyn]

That's true but does he certainly doesn't know all the behind the scenes. Not to mention if, as North said, the troops back on base watch FNC, what's that doing to their moral? It's like he's trying to trump Franks.

[ninenot]

Ahh..a deskbound censor with attitude, yet

[spectr17]

FNC general referred to IO ops and the bridges in Baghdad. IO = interdiction ops. Our sneaky petes taking the bridges and holding them for our advance

[Dog]

Justshe is right people here are trying to follow the thread...we don't need to see the bickering.....call it a draw....

Thank you..

[justshe]

Hope Ellie has a job tomorrow.

Although...I do expect somewhat of a 'bounce' effect when those in the field are reincorporated back into their 'home' news organizations after the war. I would imagine there will be less tolerance from these folks for the inanitees some of their 'stay at home' collegues have a penchant for.

[Carolina]

I've never cared for this retired general on FNC but what's with all his Monday morning quarterbacking?

I'm tolerating BBC just to see their military analysts who are endorsing the Allied tactics.

[killjoy]

Did you support the war beforehand? Do you support it now?

I support the war and our soldiers 110% and have done a lot behind the scenes that I don't really care to boast about. Lets just say I have done more than my share and will continue to do so.

IMHO, there is nothing wrong with questioning what I hear and see. It is not anti-war, but pro-American.

[Lauratealeaf]

Thanks. I was out too.

[Robert A Cook PE]

"Road being widened" (before tanks got there) might reference the bulldozers/armored dozers/combat support vehicles/tanks with mine-clearing plows at work BEFORE the tanks/Bradleys he was riding in were at work.

Plowing the ground in defensive area to clear mines is a very common "second stage" after the firing stops.

(First stage is stop shooting and figure out where everybody actually is so you don't shoot your own troops. Then arrange combat vehicles into quick defensive positions, then call in the combat engineers to clear up the battle ground so you can regroup and refuel and rearm in "safety" without running over mines.)

[Miss Marple]

Steve Centani reporting on how Iraqis were treated by the Seals. 23 prisoners on mattresses ( not the hard floor) bound with hands behind their backs, mesh bags over their heads so media couldn't photo them, medics checking them to make sure restraints weren't too tight, water and bathroom breaks. Centani says this is a marked contrast to how our pepople are treated when captured by the Iraqis.

[Sacajaweau]

bump Naptime!

[RummyChick]

hopes of mankind speech was a nice thing to put on the closing of gibson's show

[Carolina]

I would imagine there will be less tolerance from these folks for the inanitees some of their 'stay at home' collegues have a penchant for.

Nothing clarifies more than confronting mortal danger.

[Socratic]

I would suggest that he be put in downtown Baghdad and let the Iraqi people decide his fate.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for that post. America is NOT CNN. We get it. Steve Centanni talking about the Iraqi POWs we have on mattresses, with hands in plastic restraints (medics to make sure the circulation is not cut off), food, water and bathroom breaks...and mesh hoods over their heads so their faces will not be exposed on camera. He was angry, comparing the Iraqi treatment of our POWs.