Pause Normal After Rapid Advance

efreedom news ^ | 3/28/03

[rebel]

(snip)When asked today why it was so important to get to Baghdad so quickly, General Meyers (Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff) said, "Because we could."

The Republican Guard has been found and fixed.

The advance to Karbala has probably outrun the supply line "tail." Since the 26th of March logistics issues have taken primacy. This is normal in rapid armored operations. Saddam's Stalinist tactics, described in our 24 March report, has to be addressed. The irregulars attacking the rear is more a nuisance than a threat, unless the supply lines cannot be maintained. That would threaten the forward units. Rushing headlong into the Republican Guard with tired, undersupplied troops in relatively small numbers for a major assault would be foolish at this time. The Republican Guard are deployed in strength from Karbala to Al Kut.

We believe Tommy Franks will continue to keep the Republican Guard fixed with air power, take advantage of any weaknesses with the 101st now in position with the 3rd Infantry outside Karbala, secure his rear and bring up the follow on troops. Remember also that the war is being fought on several fronts - the south around Basra, the western desert, the oilfields in Kurdistan around Mosul and Kirkuk, and the center of gravity in Baghdad. What we have heard nothing about is the area east of the Tigris, east of the Al Kut - Al Amarah - Basra axis...(snip)

[rebel]

This site has consistanly had the best analysis of any news other source.

[goldstategop]

Remember let's keep Saddam's attention focused on where he thinks we're bogged down so he won't see where we're really coming from til its too late for him to do anything about it.

[Rogerf]

Thanks for this site, hadn't seen it before. Truly a place for news.

[bwteim]

Thanks for post and the link. Bookmarked.

[libertylover]

Bookmarked. Thanks. This looks like real analysis as opposed to the usual (hoped for) doom and gloom from the mainstream press.

[aruanan]

Saddam's Stalinist tactics, described in our 24 March report, has to be addressed. The irregulars attacking the rear is more a nuisance than a threat, unless the supply lines cannot be maintained. That would threaten the forward units. Rushing headlong into the Republican Guard with tired, undersupplied troops in relatively small numbers for a major assault would be foolish at this time.

This site has consistanly had the best analysis of any news other source.

The poor writing notwithstanding.

[StriperSniper]

The advance to Karbala has probably outrun the supply line "tail."

I've been suprised that none of the breifers have made this point this simply. It can be taken as a sign of unexpected success, not failure that the spear-point moved so fast.

[irish guard]

In addition to success on the battlefield, there might be more to our rapid run to the outskirts of Baghdad.........I think that first night, when we hit Baghdad/Saddam's bunker, we scared their Generals. They and our guys began to wonder how messy things might be or get if there was a civilian uprising in Baghdad wihtout our troops there. So, we raced northward, ignoring most of the standards in place during "typical" troop movements, in order to protect what could have been a really big mess in Baghdad.

Then Saddam emerged and either killed or scared the $hit out of those Generals that were conferring with our side and an interesting dilemma occured.....

Iraqis, ordered by Saddam's thugs began to fight (they had guns to their heads, held there by Fedayeens(sp)) and we had a bit of a mess on our hands that we could not really tell the world about, since, if we did, we potentially put our own guys at risk by even "suggesting" they had outrun their supply line......

It was all either a master stroke of genius by Saddam or pure luck. Either way, we did this for a reason, one which we cannot disclose at this time. It will all come out in the wash and the damn media will look like fools for it......Does this scenario sound realistic?

[StriperSniper]

scared their Generals

I think it was fear, by someone(s) in Iraq that froze most of their forces in place. We took advantage by moving far, fast.

either a master stroke of genius by Saddam or pure luck

I hope it is not genius, that would probably mean that this is meant to be a trap. If it is, I don't think it will work as much as hoped, but it will be nasty. The biggest question is who absorbs the bulk of the nastiness.

Does this scenario sound realistic?

The problem is that war plans tend to have a far shorter life to obsolescence than computers, so maybe yes now, but I don't know about this afternoon. ;-)

[StriperSniper]

You and others are injesting too much spin. How come some Marines are rationed to 1 meal a day?

That story seems to have one of the the highest rates of rotation of any. That was one report that is being blown into proportions of all our troops starving in the desert. For all we know(remember, one embed said only that) that may have been for one day, maybe they had given some of their food to some hungry locals, who knows.

[SuziQ]

How come some Marines are rationed to 1 meal a day? That's not a sign of success its a sign of poor logistics and poor planning.

According to the inbedded reporters I heard last night, their meals are NOT being cut to 1 a day. Rick Leventahl, who is with one of the frontmost groups, said that they had typically eaten only 2 a day, or fewer, anyway. He said there was a LOT of food in each of those packs, and most guys would eat some of it and save some for later. He said he couldn't imagine who would put out such a story, but that he hadn't seen it in his group.

I was watching a different channel and someone asked if this could be dis-information put out by the Coalition to make Sadaam's folks THINK we were having trouble, and lure them to come afer US. Who knows, but I don't think things are desparate, it is just, as someone mentioned before, a result of our moving so quickly in the beginning.

[VOA]

I was watching a different channel and someone asked if this could be dis-information
put out by the Coalition to make Sadaam's folks THINK we were having trouble,
and lure them to come afer US.

Now I truly understand the utility of the embedded reporters.
It's an elaborate psy-ops meant to push Saddam and his regime into paralysis...
turning them into couch potatoes staring at CNN/FOX/etc for hours on end,
eating too many Doritos, drinking too much beer and being driven to indecision
by conflicting reports from embedded reporters.

OK, I'm being facetious...but who knows?

[SuziQ]

turning them into couch potatoes staring at CNN/FOX/etc for hours on end, eating too many Doritos, drinking too much beer and being driven to indecision by conflicting reports from embedded reporters.

Actually that could accurately describe too many Americans!

[rebel]

Sure, that scenario is realistic. So are several others. I do not believe that we would no anything so drastic as moving 100 or more miles without being prepared to do it.

I do not think that a move of that size was just opportunistic. It was planned.

They knew where the RG was. The RG destruction is a necessary step to getting rid of saddam. I believe they planned to get where they are now. Pause for resupply, regroup, re-orient, rest, get a logistics base and degrade the RG before going tank to tank and man to man.

This also lets them see what the Iraqi capabilites and intentions are.

I think the US forces are right where they intended to be and will adjust to the Iraqi defense.

They may be rehearsing the taking of Bagdad in Basra.

[rabbitdog]

I'm no war expert but it looks like the intent was to get to Baghdad and cut it off from the rest of Iraq. Then you focus on softening up the Republican Guard, find an opening, then make the move. Also, why rush into a possible chemical or biological attack, when given time to bomb, this problem may be elliminated. Also,with this first group positioning itself to cut off, you could use fresh troups coming in to finish the job. I keep reading about the groups of marines from Saudi Arabia and through Jordan. Maybe they will finish the job.