INSIDE STORY: Hussein son's wild orders led to Iraq military collapse

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 25, 2003 | Robert Collier

[sarcasm]

Baghdad -- In the final days before Baghdad fell, Saddam Hussein's son Qusai issued a series of military orders that sent thousands of elite Republican Guard troops to their certain death in the open countryside.

According to accounts provided to The Chronicle by more than a dozen Iraqi military officials -- some of them still hiding from American forces -- the orders exposed the core of the Iraqi military to devastating U.S. air attacks and left the capital's defenses markedly weakened.

[Frapster]

I think that's purely a rationalization. The language used by our President's administration gave me and millions of others the understanding that WMDs were there and were a present threat. As it stands Iraq has produced nothing of significance in terms of stockpiles and what has been found has been woefully inadequate. I'm certainly not all-seeing but no one's shown me anything to date that merits the level of attention that the current administration put on the issue.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

Cuba, I think, would be a good target for the President's second term. Easy victory, long long overdue......the left would go nuts......are there any reasons to NOT do this?

[AmericanVictory]

It's fascinating that, if you recall, Eisenhower used to do the same thing -- and got the same treatment by the press and the "intellectuals".

[M.K. Borders]

40mm is about the size of the old U.S. Army LAW (Light anti-armor weapon). It was replaced by the AT-4.

In both cases the weapon was intended to be carried by individule soldiers. Though ineffective against tanks (except for risky track shots, or high shots into the engine compartment) these weapons are perfectly cabable of killing wheeled equipment, light armored APCs (such as the M113), and seriously damaging Bradlys.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

The top of your list... they were either lying or they were being lied to by their manipulators/subordinates. Possible some mix of the 2.

As for the presidents of Bulgaria and his Majestic King of Jordan and other 'willings'... who cares? They'd do almost anything for a buck (or 2). Their nations' recent history indicates that much.

How do I know that we were being lied? Well... no WMD's have been found. Isn't that sufficient proof? It goes like this: find the weapons and you prove your case; find nothing and you are a liar, you lose credibility, etc.

[JamesWilson]

Only 40mm? Where did they come from? Crazy Pete's Fireworks Emporium? Or am I missing something here?

He's only 6,004 miles from South of the Border.

[Thunder 6]

A Boyd follower, are we?

regards,

[M.K. Borders]

yes I know my spelling went to pieces. Early still. :)

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Matthew 12:30 :: King James Version (KJV)

Copyright Info.:  Public Domain
Publisher Info: A Public Domain Bible | KJV at Zondervan | Zondervan

Matthew 12
³⁰   He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

[TheRightGuy]

Are you aware that Congo's Pygmies are being eaten by various other locals as we speak?

Perhaps we should send Dasshole to investigate ... tasty morsel that he may prove to be.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Would your theory apply to my spelling too?

I used to be a near-perfect speller. But... as I got brighter and smarter, I find myself making more and more mistakes. I guess it's because there are so many other threads in my mind, besides the one that directs my fingers to do the typing.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Not to worry. It's because you are smart. You know, I suggest that students be given higher grades when they misspell words or use them improperly. That should be viewed as concrete proof of their high mental abilities.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

In, fact, the reason our kids don't seem to do very well in public schools is because the schools are TOO good and the kids get TOO bright.

[lodwick]

Baghdad Bob is alive and well...

[Walkingfeather]

I would contend this war was won by divine intervention. I think in warfare history only Gideon's battle over the Whoeverites could be compared. It truly seemed God confused and confounded the enemy. Yes we are good... the best in the world, but in war more things can go wrong than right. In this war more things went right than wrong, I think this is hard to deny.

[Common Tator]

I think that's purely a rationalization

At the end of Gulf War One we found quite a bit of poison gas belonging to Saddam near the Kuwaiti border. In fact we had claims by our troops who were exposed to the poison gas containers. We also knew he had them because he used them against both the Kurds and Iran.

We knew at that time how much Saddam had because he told us. In fact at the meeting of his generals with Schwartzkopf the Iraqis admitted how much they still had. They agreed to destroy their admitted supply of WMD and give the United Nations proofs of that destruction.

In the 12 years that followed Saddam never claimed to have destroyed the poison gas he admittedly had. Saddam refused to present any evidence that he had destroyed them.

What the UN with Hans Blix was trying to do was find these known weapons. Last December Saddam was ordered to either tell the UN where when and how the WMD were destroyed or tell where they were stored so the UN could destroy them. Saddam was ordered to present this information in a written report. Saddam presented thousands of pages of Bull Crap.

If in fact he had destroyed those admitted quantities of WMD, he just needed to say where when and how he did so. If he had them, all he needed to do was surrender them. He would still be in power.

The other option is that he used them all against the Kurds and Iran. In that case all he had to do was show the records of his supply and when those weapons were used.

If in fact Saddam did destroy his WMD, why did he refuse to offer the proof he had done so.

The question is why would a dictator follow a policy that lead to his regime being destroyed if all he had to do was tell the UN what he had done with his WMD. Remember we know he had them... he used them at least twice. All he had to do was say, here is what I had, and here is when they were destroyed or used. The only logical answer is he hid them or sent them somewhere that he could not tell us.. even if it cost him his regime. Why didn't he tell us what had happened to them?

[DoctorMichael]

"......Qusai had no justification for being in command," said Abdelkadeer. "He was unspecialized in war. He had never done military studies. He was not a military man......."

This little clown should have spent (....or should have been MADE to spend.....) more time on learning how to lead a country and military planning than smoking cigars, spending time personally torturing some poor slob, raping the women of his country or whacking off to pictures of the Bush twins.

What a joke.

Hopefully we'll catch him and have a military hanging.

[TomB]

Once WMDs are found, how long will it take for you to accuse the US of planting the evidence?

[DAPFE8900]

40 mm is smaller then our standard 60mm mortar...What were they going to shoot them at us and have our troops watch them float down on a mini parachute..

[rabidralph]

Despite Iraqis' frequent pronouncements before the war that they would fall back into Baghdad and fight house to house, they did nothing of the sort.

The Chronicle sounds disappointed.