I was watching Fox News this afternoon, and the new story was about the fact that the Pentagon has plans to invade Iraq with the strength of 250 thousand men, launched from different staging areas around Iraq.
Well SHIT!
Our nation’s security’s not too stable as it is, so why would we wanna alert Saddam that this might be coming down on him in the near furture and force a pre-emptive terroristic strike?
Okay, I admit getting permission of the surrounding areas is going to be difficult given the current feeling towards the US, but I mean DAMN!
I also know the public has a right to know, but our network boradcasts are being monitored for God’s sake! This might be all that’s needed to launch those weapons of mass destruction.
Well, I realize this comes close to a rant, but I posted it over here just in case. If I’m wrong, as always, I invite you to enlighten me as to my thoughts.
Ummmm, well if you’ve been listening with even 1/8 of a brain the last few months, “Shrub” has been bleating and schreeching about how Iraq is the nexis of the new “Axis of Evil,” so I wouldn’t come out as being shocked, SHOCKED to find that there are plans to invade Iraq.
Hell, I’d be shocked if there WEREN’T plans.
Plus, this is very old news. The original “treatment” about how an invasion of Iraq would go was “leaked” about 2 months ago, at which time Rumsfield & Co. got into a huge hissy fit about how the leak was going to lead to the end of American civilization as we know it.
Did I say I was SHOCKED anywhere in my post, dude? My position was, is it wise to give the goddam details of an invasion? (if you’d been reading with at least 1/8 of your brain you might not have reacted like you did)
What details? Did it specify the units, their positions and approximate strengths?
Nah. Credit your military with some intelligence. The information they’ve supplied would not be hard for Iraq to find out very quickly by other means (think it’s easy to sneak 250,000 troops to the Middle East without anybody noticing). I assume they’re also working on the assumption that there’s bugger all Iraq could do anyway; realistically, the Iraqi military doesn’t stand a hope in hell.
What possible advantage could Hussein gain from knowing this? My interpretation is that this is sabre-rattling to give Hussein one last chance to bow out gracefully; the US is saying “look, we’re serious, here come the troops - last chance to quit!”
My take is that they do this leaking on purpose. Maybe there are elements within the nation of Iraq that are considering military options. They see this stuff on CNN and talk with the CIA folks and they think that kicking ass might not be so far fetched after all. Maybe this stuff gets to the press as some kind of assurance to the rebel elements.
I have to say, that I think that if this is not the case, then strategically, it’s not the smartest thing we could do. OTOH, what would they do anyway? I think our fire power will be so overwhelming that advanced warning would not help them much.
" …strength of 250 thousand men, launched from different staging areas around Iraq…" is NOT deatailed enough to be of help to anyone in Iraq.
It’s most likely a deliberate leak, meant to keep Saddam guessing as to who his real enemies are and where an attack would come from.
Remember the Gulf War? There were weeks of stories about a Marine brigade preparing to hit the beach in Kuwait, complete with invasion practices. It was all disinformation.
American media is a completely whipped dog under the lash of the military. The ONE time there was enough info released to REALLY endanger the troops, AFAIK, was the troop landing in Somalia, where the Seals were met at the beach by camera crews and bright lights. I can’t recall whether the details came directly from the President or from the SecDef, but since no one got hurt, no one in DC got burned for releasing it.
I agree, it definitely sounds like a smoke screen. Not that we’re trying to hide our time/method of attack, but I don’t think the US public really cares that much about how we’re possibly maybe going to attack some country this far in advance. If the military gave such information out this far in advance, you can guarantee they’re not going to follow it. Plus, all I really heard about it was “A three pronged attack, including air, land, and sea forces.” Hmmm, imagine that.
I doubt we’ll even invade anytime soon, if at all. It sounds a lot like scare tactics and propaganda we use in every war. Let them know we’re coming with a huge force ready to crush them, and they’ll be standing by to surrender once our camera crews show up.
Again, very old news. this was branded about soon after 9/11 and has been brought up every few weeks mainly because its a case of who “deserves” deserves to be vaccinated first, the military or civilain population?
WE have to be open with our war-plans because it affects our allies. Saddam is under no such restraint. That crazy sonofabitch is likely to do anything at anytime.
