[Missouri Mule]

We all knew what saddam and his barbarians were capable of going into this thing.
Yes!!! I feel for every single one of our fallen soldiers. I feel pride. I feel sorrow for their death. I feel a sincere gratitude for their ultimate sacifice for me, my family and my country as well as my way of life.

Sure we could retaliate with similar atrocities. The problem with that is we are morally superior. Actually, IMHO, we are completly
superior. That is primarily why they hate us so much.
I am talking about the Iraqi government, if you choose to call it that. In the end we will be victorious and they know it. They are desperate and will do "ANYTHING" in an attempt to repel us.

What scares me is how bad this could wind up becoming.

It is my beleif that the Liberal mentality has caused the need for this huge sacrafice we could all have to make. We had em once already about twelve years ago............................................

I refuse to try to justify the methods they are using because they are nothing but pure evil. But, deep down inside I am certain I could be capable of acts against an invadeing force on US soil, that would likely baninish me to Hell for eterinty. I pray that will never happen.
We have to make this as decisive, as humane to the Iraqi citizenry and as quick as possible.
Also, in my heart beleive every single hussein loyalist must die .

I am not overly religious but I will be praying over this one and not to allah either.

[Drjones]

:D

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

[Leatherneck]

You know, this is something I believe we've underestimated all along. The Iraqi people must, to some degree, love their country, right? And they've certainly heard enough propoganda about American imperialists to fill a wadi. So why would we think they all would open their arms to invading armed troops that are very "different" from them? I think we're going to continue to find resistance; maybe not extremely effective resistance, but some degree of it. Enough to slow down progress and demand caution as we advance to Baghdad.
Until we establish a track record of good behavior toward the defeated people, and we neutralize the state-owned propoganda machine, our troops are going to have to deal with civilian/militia resistance efforts. It's as natural as our own desire/determination to defend our country, I think.

TC
TFL Survivor

[10-Ring]

I knew form the outset that this would be a hard fought war. After all, this is Saddam's last stand.

[foghornl]

War IS Hell. I remember the things my long deceased Dad told me about his service in WW2. I didn't realize it at the time, being a young kid, that there was a sadness and horror in his eyes that even now I cannot begin to comprehend. However, he did what was required to defend Freedom and protect Lady Liberty for us all.

My prayers and warmest regards to all of our troops and allies over there.

[raz-0]

The ammount of casualties so far for an actual ground war really isn't that bad. PR wise, we are going to get hung with the way we made this an ultra media event. It look sbad, and every death is many times more demoralizing because the news beats it into the ground until the next one.

There also seemed to be this air of thinking it would be even easier than the gulf war. When we did MUCH less in the gulf war with more forces. There's a big difference between quashing an invasion and handing them enough of a beating to make them retreat and invading a country and changing a regime.

[JPM70535]

I don't think that an yone should be surprised at the tactics being used by Saddam's troops. These are the same kind of folks who strap explosives to thier bodies and get on a crowded bus load of innicent women and children and blow themselves up. If they have no morals against doing that then they surely are not going to play by the rules of warfare.

Every one of our troops are going to have to adopt a LEOs approach to dealing with Iraqis, be they soldier or civilian. They all have to be treated as potentially hostile until proven otherwise. To think that today's G.I.s can adopt the same open armed approach to street urchins as did their fathers and Grandfathers during WWII, is pure folly. The mindset of the Islamic Fundamentalist is completely alien to the American way of life.

I sincerely hope and pray that our troops complete the mission with minimum casualties, and if that means "innocent Iraqi Civilians" have to die then so be it.

[M1911]

Leatherneck: I don't think that the folks that are resisting are doing so out of love for their country. The folks in Iraq who are resisting are members of the ruling Baath party. They are the local thugs who rule the place. They know that if we win, they're toast. In the south of Iraq, after GW1, when the shiites rose up, the local Baarth party members were strung up with wire.

These folks have plenty of reason to resist -- if they lose, their countrymen will kill them.

[Sean Smith]

You know, if you do the math, our casualties (killed and wounded) have been something like 0.05% or less so far. And while that doesn't diminish the individual human tragedies involved, those kind of losses in a war are piss-ant. They are utterly insignificant. If y'all are going to get shook up over that kind of death toll as things "going rough" in a war (as the media seems to suggest), you are more of a "surrender monkey" than the French have ever been. We've got units within 60 miles of Iraq in a matter of days, and people are complaining about the mission going out of whack? What has gone out of whack are what pass for some people's brains.

The resistance we are seeing seems to consist of (a) Republican Guard folks, who we knew would fight, and (b) Baath party lunatic fringers, who we knew would fight. Nothing about what has happend so far has surprised me in the least, except maybe the fact that the guy who fragged the 101st Airborne's rear CP wasn't summarily executed. Sometimes "good order and discipline" in war is spelled "nine by nineteen." And why aren't I shocked that the guy's name was Sergeant Asan Akbar?

"Well, he killed a few soldiers, but at least we didn't offend anyone's sensibilities." :rolleyes:

Unlike Somalia, we haven't seen huge masses of armed civilians howling for American blood. And I really doubt that we will. Most people are probably doing what most people always do... wait and see how it goes.

[Blackhawk]

No, I have not forgotten....

[cheygriz]

War IS hell!

But as our President said so elequently, the cost of doing nothing is far greater.

[Waitone]

Sadaam and his goons have no place to go. For 30 years they have butchered and terrorized the Iraqi people. Now all of a sudden their reign is over and they pay the price. The US will be something less than sympathetic but the Iraqi people will be out for blood. Between the time Sadaam and co. caves and the time the US can implement some elements of control will be a time of the 3R's of regime change: revenge, retaliation, and retribution.

Sadaam and Co. will fight it out big time because they have no future either from the US or Iraqi population.

[El Tejon]

Of course it is. Buck up, THR.

Victory first, we shall mourn and honor the dead after we get the job done.