PrairiePundit

Ticket to Paradise The Arab volunteers who are eager to fight the US in Iraq will be as disappointed as the jihadies who rushed to Afghanistan when that war began. There are several reasons why a human bomb campaign will not save Saddam. The human bombers in Isreal do not attack military targets because they are so difficult to hit. Almost all the human bomb attacks in Isreal are in civilian areas aimed at school kids and elderly people. For those who think the bombing of the Marine's in Lebanon is instructive, they are wrong. Those Marines were not in a combat role. The Reagan Administration was also not willing to launch a war against terror. The US is already in one now. The general in charge of the troops who were killed in the car bomb attack in Iraq has issued orders that all vehicles are to turn around immiediately. If they fail to do so in five seconds, the instructions are to destroy the vehicle and the people in it. That should buy the "martyr" his...

Arab Fantasy World Ralph Peters Has an excellent discussion of Arab mentality as reflected by Arab television. Expectation Wars The whining of some media types this week about why Iraq has not surrendered yet may be based on the opening psy-op moves by the Pentagon to get Iraqi commanders to surrender. Certainly initially contact with Iraqi divisions around Basara did result in surender. Since that time there has been no contact with the regular Iraqi army. The Republican Guard is trying to hang on around Baghdad, but they have not had direct contact with US ground forces. Along the supply line there has been unorganized raids by illegal combatants. Suicide attacks are for losers, and are employed by people who perceive themselves as losing. If 4,000 Arabs have decided to be rats jumping on Saddam's ship of state they will very likely find the death they seek, but it unlikely they will have many successful attacks on US forces. At this point of all the casualties...

"Are We There Yet, Daddy?" The press corps in Washington seems determined to make a case that plan for the war is a mess that is being adversely impacted by the clever strategy of Saddam. Notwithstanding the fastest advance in history, the press corps seems ready to surrender. It is time to pull their skirts over their head and run in circles screaming. At the White House press briefing on Friday, questioners seem especially upset, that the President and the military did not agree with their screwy analysis. It was a performance that makes one happy that they are not in charge of the war. They have created a target rich environment for Saturday Night Live parodies.

Wargaming Gen. Wallace The US no doubt did not practice having buses drive into M-1 tanks or armored personel carriers. Of course, when it happened in Iraq it was a disaster for those on the bus. While the US may not have wargamed having illegal combatants attack supply lines their results have been the same as that of the bus driver, they all failed and most or either dead or POWs. That is the problem with the NY Times and Washington Post articles quoting Gen. Wallace as saying they had not wargamed for what was happening. Wargamers do not usually wargame for stupid responses to the use of force. The fact that our forces may be surprised by Iraqi's irrational acts is not militarily significant and should not be page one news.

Context at Al Jazeera Al Jazeera fuels an obsession with the civilian suffering in the war to liberate Iraq. Where context is missing is pictures of a man who bled to death because Saddam's thugs cut his tongue out, or a woman is killed for waving at US troops. Al Jazeera's intrepid journalist are blind to the evil of the Baathist regime. Al Jazeera presents a picture of whining victims of accidents as if the suffering was deliberately imposed, while ignoring true evil that is deliberately imposed.

The War on Terror in Iraq As the war to liberate Iraq goes forward, it is becoming clear that the country was a true terror state with a regime that maintained power through terroizing its own population. The forces attempting to attack US supply lines are part of the apparatus of the terror state. The Sadam Fedeyeen are the Baathist enforcers who cut peoples tongue out, gouge childrens eyeballs and now grab boys to force them to fight and kidnap relatives to force men to fight. With the recent finding that al Queda had troops fighting for Saddam, it is not surprising they would be comfortable with a terrorist regime.

Oil for Food and Dependency The move to get the Oil for Food program up and running again makes sense for the coalition. Humanetarin asistance is going to be needed and it a good idea to have Iraq pay for it. The Oil for Food program has been a way for Saddam to excercise control of the 60% of his population that is dependant on the program. If those people caused any trouble Saddam could cut off their food and that of their relatives. For now during the transition to a new government they will be dependant on the coalition. This will give them added incentive to turn on their former oppressors. One of the urgent task for a new government in Iraq will be to get people off the dependancy merry-go-round and into productive work.

French Choice Lets see, do I want a murderous despot to win the war or the country that liberated France. Incredibly the French foreign minister could not say who he wanted to win the war while he was in London trying to "mend" fences.

Al Queda in Iraq British interrogators get first evidence of al Queda assistance in Iraq. POW's have told British troops of al Queda participation.

Desperation Iraqi illegal combatants are now using intimidation and coersion to force children to fire weapons on their behalf. Moral bankruptcy with this regime has no bottom. Saddam is one of those guys who never comes up with an answer when someone suggest, "Why Not...?" At the Pentagon briefing Wednesday Tori Clarke seem to have some difficulty dealing with a question on whether these illegal combatants could be targeted. Obviously they can and should be targeted. They should not be treated as POW's when captured, but as illegal combatants separated from Iraqi Army troops who would be intimidated and organized into resistance groups by these Saddam true believers. By keeping them separate it will be easier to target these people for war crimes prosecutions after the war. The rules of engagement permit US forces to return fire whether they are being shot at from hospitals or mosques. The question of whether US forces are hampered by their rules of enga...

Basra Resident Pointing Out Targets to Brits The Brits are getting targetting help in Basra from residents who sneak across the booby trapped bridge to tell where the Baathist thugs are hiding, themselves and their weapons.

Idiots on Parade Reports this afternoon suggest a column of 20 vehicles, some of them armored have left Basra headed toward British postions. There is another reports that a 1000 vehicle column of Republican Guard is headed toward Marine units moving toward Baghdad. It is hard to imagine a greater gift to coalition forces, getting these vehicles out in the open on a highway where aircraft can destroy them, rather than having to digging them out of defensive positions. The attacks on supply lines have been disasterous for his forces. Iraqis lost up to 300 troops in a fight with a US armored column over the evening. His uncoordinated raids should have no effect on the operation. The Civilian Casualty Show The hypocrits at Al Jazeera are showing what are claimed to be civilian casualties in Baghdad. The so call injuries appear to be staged. Considering the way Saddam's thugs fired directly on civilians in Basra yesterday the crocidile tears should not be believed. ...

Deception and Opportunity Dressing in US uniforms so you can kill Iraqi troops who want to surrender is not the act of someone confident of victory or the loyalty of their troops. It is the immorality of someone desperately attempting to avoid collapse. The NY Times and others have characterized the Brits' rescue of shiites in Basra as a change of strategy. The coalition always intended to prevent Saddam massacres. This operation should have little impact on the action at the "tip of the spear" closing on Baghdad. The only thing slowing that operation has been the foul weather and the clean up afterward. This is not a change of strategy or plan.

War Crimes It is not surprising that someone who would accumilate WMD would hide weapons and illeagal combatants in a hospital. Nor is it surprising that Saddam would use illeagal combatants feigning surrender to ambush US troops. It is not surprising that he would have his thugs dress in US uniforms and get Iraqi troops who want to surrender into a position to kill them. He is a war criminal and those who follow his unlawful orders are war criminals. The Defense Department should get it war crimes tribunals ready to go the work as soon as combat is over.

Basra Uprising The shiites have started fighting the Baath Party thugs Saddam left to control the city. The Brits are moving in now to assist the shiites. Some reports have indicated that the head of the Baath Party in Basra has already been killed.

The Not Enough Troops Quagmire As American forces make the most rapid advance in the history of warfare, some critics are saying that the US does not have enough forces in the area and that a quagmire is likely. The facts on the ground tell a different story. The ground attack has now been underway longer than the ground campaign lasted in the '91 war with advance that has covered close to 300 miles. In the '01 war there were approximately 200 US fatalities, so far in this campaign there have been around 25. It is also interesting that none of these casualties have been inflicted on "the tip of the spear." Most casualties have come from raids and ambushes along supply lines. None of these attacks have effected the battle plan. For a quagmire to occur the Iraqis would need to sustain a raiding strategy after their army is defeated. There are several reason to believe this is unlikely. The experience in the port city Umm Qasr is instructive. The "re...

Desert Storm 2003 A strong wind out of the southwest will blow through Iraq as the attack on the Republican Guard goes into full swing. While it will hamper some of the US's sophisticated weapons, it will have little effect on the tanks and precision munitions. If the Iraqi attempt to use chemical weapons , it is very likely that the strong winds will blow the weaponized poison to Iran. It will certainly not linger in the battle area very long with winds in excess of 30 miles per hour. Of course, it will be interesting to see how many artillery pieces the Iraqis have left to launch such an attack.

Iraq's Mogudishu Moment Showing abused American POW's on Iraqi TV was a huge mistake for Ramadan and the gang. There is nothing like documenting your war crimes. In the sick mind of people like Osama and Saddam, there is the thought that all it takes to rattle US policy is to show some dead or abused GI's. Actually what happened in Somalia was the sight raised the question of "What are we doing here, where we really do not have a dog in this fight?" That is not an issue in Iraq, and the brutal treatment of our people only reinforce the determination to rid the world of the thugs running Baghdad. While the caualties are unfortunate, they are not significant in terms of the operation. People who resort to raiding strategies do so because they do not have the means or the will to use a more effective strategy. The fact that Saddam & Sons are reduced to sending raiding parties out as illeagal combatants, out of uniform and feigning surrender just show...

Ameriphobes Protest over the war to liberate Iraq seem to have no rational argument. People who compare President Bush to Hitler are ignorant of history and current facts. If they are making the analogy as a form of insult, it becomes more meaningless--insults should not be confused with rational argument. While there are some who oppose the war because they wished to continue to pursue means that have failed over the last 12 years to disarm Iraq, most of the opposition that has lead to demonstrations in the street is the result of a phobic reaction to the use of force by the US for any reason. In this country these demonstrators are doing more damage to the Democrats left wing than they are to the political position of George Bush. Meyer's Agrees Gen. Meyers, speaking on Fox News Sunday, agrees with the points below under Message Traffic in Baghdad. He also mentioned the focus on destroying delivery systems for WMD. Where are the Refugees? II Jordan has cons...

UNilateral Word Abuse Tom Freidman is abusing the word "unilateral" today calling a coalition of over 40 countries unilateral. He is writing this nonsense from France where people are shocked and awed at Chirac's actions. While this action is not unilateral, it is clear that multilateralism is being over praised. Multilateralism was one of the reasons Saddam was not removed from power in '91. Coalition warfare can be a limiting factor in not only the goals of a conflict, but also the efectiveness with which is fought.