I sleep with my tv on and this mornign I woke up to some reporter saying we don’t want to let Iraq know we’re coming to Bagdad. Which is fine but if you didn’t want some one to know you were coming to see them you would not tell the whole world would you?
I can’t believe this I mean the guy basically said “We past a mine field thatthat had little makers on it so we didn’t tread on them, then we past some old machinery left over from the First Gulf War yadda yadda yadda…”
Okay he didn’t say that word for word but with out saying where exactly the squad, unit, pack what ever you call it in Military terms is the reporter guy told everyone where they were or had been. From that a person who is familiar with Iraq say an Iraqi would be able to derive a route since the whole friggin planet know thier off to Bagdad.
I understand that there is this need to know whats going on but do I really need to see a play by play of all the action. Yes it makes for intersting even educational TV but for security’s sake I just do’t think its a good idea.
I think the Iraqis already have a pretty damn good idea where we are. Besides, the reporters have generally been very good about security: saying “3 Commando Brigade is in the Al Faw peninsula” is not specific enough to be useful to the Iraqis – and in any case the explosions are probably a dead giveaway.
I don’t think the military is letting him reveal anything that is going to hinder their progress.
Heck, if anything - they may want this type of information to be public knowledge, so the opposition knows what’s coming and would maybe consider surrendering peacefully.
The Pentagon has strict rules for the reporters to follow, and I am supremely confident they are monitoring the reports. Any violation gets the reporter banned from miltary coverage. And their route? The Army tanks are barreling west by northwest in that big empty area, so they can make a right turn and hit Baghdad. No secret at all. Minefields and blowed up tanks litter the countyside.
I am certain that part of the U.S. brass’s strategy is to USE the media to effect a psychological war. They can’t prevent the reporting, so they might as well profit from it. Saddam (if he’s still alive) can’t feel too confident when he tunes in to CNN and sees the banner that states “Rumseld has good, deep broad evidence that the Iraqi generals are contemplating surrender.” Hopefully it’ll just increase his paranoia, possibly causing him to flip his last cookie and implode.