The Dogs of War

[FSPilot 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Stupid ass US forces! (if this is true)<span id='postcolor'>

Don't you mean "Stupid ass UNICEF!"?

Sort of lept to conclusions, eh?

[Schoeler 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (bn880 @ April 03 2003,06:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">3--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ April 02 2003,233)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I'm pretty sure Al-Jazeera is keeping things fair and balanced, so to speak, as they seem to be pissing pretty much everybody off. That means they must be doing something right lol<span id='postcolor'>

Yep, I agree with you on this one.  <span id='postcolor'>

Hah! I think so far this is the only thing we've all agreed on!

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Schoeler @ April 03 2003,07:27)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">1--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (bn880 @ April 03 2003,061)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ April 02 2003,23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I'm pretty sure Al-Jazeera is keeping things fair and balanced, so to speak, as they seem to be pissing pretty much everybody off. That means they must be doing something right lol<span id='postcolor'>

Yep, I agree with you on this one.  <!--emo&<span id='postcolor'>

Hah!  I think so far this is the only thing we've all agreed on!<span id='postcolor'>

I think me and Bn agreed a while back that we didn't like each other all that much lol

[Schoeler 0]

You know, I was thinking, as much as I disagree with Bn880 and Balschoiw on A LOT of issues, and think that they are wrong (although I don't disagree with everything they have said or believe) I do appreciate the fact that they are willing and courageous enough to speak out and I hope they really believe in what they are arguing about. I think its good to have someone with a completely opposite perspective open your eyes and give you pause once in a while. It makes me think about my position on certain issues, and either strengthens my beliefs or causes me to adjust them at times. I hope some of my arguments have done the same for them as theirs have for me.

[Longinius 1]

"They really wouldn't say that they're Kurds. They could just casually go into the city and I'd assume that they could probably blend in. Then they could just act like a Baghdadian(no clue if thats right word) and get things moving."

Lets say you lived in an occupied land, where the dictator and his troops didnt hesitate to kill or inprison people at will. Would you trust any geek of the street asking you to take part in a rebellion? I sure wouldnt.

[IsthatyouJohnWayne 0]

there are 5-10% kurds in Baghdad so its not totally out of the question

[Guest]

True. I doubt however that they have any political pull. Especially not with the Sunni.

[Guest]

Missile kills eight Iraqi civilians

[Oligo 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Schoeler @ April 03 2003,01:26)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Maybe we should have just said, "ah Adolf already killed 4 million, we can't go after him for his 'past sins' " back in 1943.  <span id='postcolor'>

Well, you did say: "Ah Stalin murdered way more than Adolf did, but who cares."

[WhoCares 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Oligo @ April 03 2003,12:43)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Well, you did say: "Ah Stalin murdered way more than Adolf did, but who cares."<span id='postcolor'>

Please, don't name me in the same sentence as Stalin and Hitler, okay?!

[Balschoiw 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Missile kills eight Iraqi civilians <span id='postcolor'>

Time to update your numbers denoir.

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ April 03 2003,13:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Missile kills eight Iraqi civilians <span id='postcolor'>

Time to update your numbers denoir.<span id='postcolor'>

They're not my numbers. They are from http://www.iraqbodycount.net and they seem to be lagging two days. The last entries (click on the counter to see) are from 1st April. Why, I don't know since a lot has happened since then.

[theavonlady 2]

There is good news and there is bad news from Baghdad:

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Saddam's doctor called a meeting of all the Saddam look-alikes.

"Men, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news!"

"The good news is Saddam is still alive."

"The bad news is he lost an arm."<span id='postcolor'>

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WhoCares @ April 03 2003,12:54)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Oligo @ April 03 2003,12:43)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Well, you did say: "Ah Stalin murdered way more than Adolf did, but who cares."<span id='postcolor'>

Please, don't name me in the same sentence as Stalin and Hitler, okay?!    <span id='postcolor'>

   

Stalin

Hitler

Mussolini

Pol Pot

Who cares?

[Balschoiw 0]

The destruction of two Republican Guard divisions ("Baghdad" and "Medina") should come as no surprise. These units are often inaccurately labeled as "elite." The Republican Guard is elite only in relation to the Iraqi army units. One thing that makes Republican Guard troops "elite" to Saddam is the willingness of the Guard troops to commit atrocities against the Iraqi people. Iraqi army units cannot be trusted to do this sort of thing. Compared to U.S. and British units, the Republican guard is poorly equipped, trained and led. In the 1991 war, the Republican Guard units would fight, and be promptly destroyed, while Iraqi army units were more prone to disintegration or massive surrenders. A month ago, the six Republican Guard divisions had nearly 70,000 troops, 800 tanks, a thousand other armored vehicles and some 500 artillery. Nearly a week of air attacks are thought to have destroyed about fifty percent of those vehicles and maybe a third of the troops. There have been some desertions as well, although most of these men head for home, not coalition forces, when they decide to quit.

Most of the damage to Republican Guard units has been done from the air, using a new generation of smart bombs ("wind corrected munitions dispensers") that release dozens of smart bomblets that, in turn, use radar and heat sensors to seek out and destroy armored vehicles below. These smart bombs destroy most vehicles within a area 150 by 360 meters. Coalition aircraft track vehicle movements in most of central Iraq around the clock. When what appears to be a military convoy is spotted, several of the smart bombs are dropped along the route. Aerial photos the next day show many burned out armored vehicles along that road. During the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqi were able to deceive coalition bombers about the success of their attacks. Not this time, or at least so it seems. The truth will not be known until coalition troops come in and inspect the destroyed Iraqi vehicles.

For the second night in a row, a convoy of American military vehicles (trucks and hummers) crossed into northern Iraq from Turkey. These vehicles are apparently being used to provide mobility for American paratroopers and Kurdish forces. Explosions are heard along the border with Iraqi controlled territory, as American Special Forces call in bomb attacks in support of Kurdish militia fighting local Iraqi troops. The Iraqi army units facing the Kurds are usually interested in fighting, and after a few of the American bombs, the Iraqis will retreat a few kilometers. As the Iraqis are pushed back closer to the outskirts of Mosul and Kirkuk, the two major cities in northern Iraq, they are putting up a fight. That is what is going on today. But these are Iraqi army troops, who tend to retreat if put under too much pressure.

One heavily armed unit on Saddam's payroll had publicly declared itself neutral in the war between Iraq and the invading coalition. This force is the Iranian People's Mujahadeen (Mujahedeen-el-Khalk), which has opposed the Islamic government in Iran for over twenty years, and for just as long has been supported by Saddam in camps along the Iranian border. Numbering several thousand lightly armed Iranians, their camps have occasionally suffered rocket or air attack from Iran. This is because the People's Mujahadeen regularly sends armed teams into Iran to attack military and police targets. Saddam has occasionally used them to do dirty work inside Iraq. But these guys are no friend of Saddam, who used them as pawns in his ongoing maneuvers against Iran. So now it's pay back time. After September 11, 2001, the People's Mujahadeen were declared international terrorists by the United States. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Shia rebel group supported by Iran inside Iran (SAIRI or Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq), has been negotiating with the U.S. government over what role SAIRI would play in post-Saddam Iraq.

The three American divisions leading the drive on Baghdad (3rd Mechanized, 101st Airborne, 1st Marine) all had a few days to replenish their supplies. What they did was stock up so that they had their "basic load" of ammo, food, fuel and so on. This is the total amount of stuff they can fit on their armored vehicles and trucks. The basic load gives you enough supplies to take off and move and fight for 2-4 days (depending on the degree of opposition and how much you have to move.)

Several battalions of the Republican Guard tried to recapture a bridge over the Euphrates river Mussayib. American troops destroyed most of the attackers and no damage was done to the bridge, which is 30 kilometers from Baghdad. While some U.S. scouts have advanced close enough to see the Baghdad skyline, most American troops were seen digging in, which may only be a short delay while bombers and gunships seek out and destroy nearby Iraqi combat units. If the Republican Guard want to hang on to any of their armored vehicles, they have to keep moving them away from advancing American troops. But as the Iraqis do that, American ground or air forces nail them. But with Baghdad so close, the surviving Republican Guard troops will probably get back to the capital as infantry only. There is also the fear that some, or many, of these Republican Guard troops will stay outside Baghdad and snipe at coalition supply and support troops. This would slow down supply operations and divert some combat units to deal with the attacks.

Updated Iraq war map with troop positions (note special units are not listed as their positions are not public)

[Guest]

Military puzzle as US advances

From what it seems the two Republican Guard divisions havn't been destroyed, but they are "missing". Nobody knows where they are.

[theavonlady 2]

Tough little cookie!

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ April 03 2003,09:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Military puzzle as US advances

From what it seems the two Republican Guard divisions havn't been destroyed, but they are "missing". Nobody knows where they are.<span id='postcolor'>

Apparently this is not a first, north of Baghdad the Iraqi forces have been also disappearing fro mthe battle scene. Ninjas?

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Schoeler @ April 03 2003,02:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">-snip-

I think its good to have someone with a completely opposite perspective open your eyes and give you pause once in a while. It makes me think about my position on certain issues, and either strengthens my beliefs or causes me to adjust them at times. I hope some of my arguments have done the same for them as theirs have for me.<span id='postcolor'>

In principle you are right I think, but I want to point one thing out to everyone: once the personal insults come, the other side will not listen. I'm speaking from experience, which is becoming extensive.

[Balschoiw 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Tough little cookie! <span id='postcolor'>

"U.S. defense officials said they were aware of the report, but could not immediately confirm the details of Lynch's capture."

Well the coaltion forces need a hero badly

[Die Alive 0]

New ride this Spring coming to an American theme parks near you!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Tough little cookie! <span id='postcolor'>

I was gonna make a Rachel Corrie comparison, but it's just not worth it anymore.... to easy!

-=Die Alive=-

[PFC_Mike 2]

sort of looks like Lenin in that picture.

As for the "dissaperaing" RG units, I think that many of them might have just deserted.

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PFC_Mike @ April 03 2003,16:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">sort of looks like Lenin in that picture.

As for the "dissaperaing" RG units, I think that many of them might have just deserted.<span id='postcolor'>

Not likely: BBC:

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">1340: American marines meet stiff Iraqi resistance at Aziziyah, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south-east of Baghdad, the BBC's David Willis reports. <span id='postcolor'>

They've dug in, dispersed, waited for the front line units to pass so that they can go for the supplies again. Not bad strategy actually. You let the avantgarde of the US troops head for Baghdad knowing that they can't take it directly. Then you go for the suplies. If you manage to cut them of only for a few days, the results for those in the vicinity of Baghdad will be disastrous. No mater how much better the US troops are, there is little they can do without fuel, food and ammo. They would be sitting ducks.

[Oligo 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ April 03 2003,16:36)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">If you manage to cut them of only for a few days, the results for those in the vicinity of Baghdad will be disastrous. No mater how much better the US troops are, there is little they can do without fuel, food and ammo.<span id='postcolor'>

Let's see whether the Iraqis have enough will and firepower to make that happen. Probably not, but not a bad plan anyway.

[Longinius 1]

"Let's see whether the Iraqis have enough will and firepower to make that happen. Probably not, but not a bad plan anyway."

If they have the will, they dont need the firepower. Just look at how the Fins dealt with the invading russians. They were outmanned and outgunned, but definately not lacking in motivation and ingenuity. For the sake of coalition troops, and Iraqis, I however hope that this plan (if this is what they are trying to do) will fail.