Like it or not, we are going to war with Iraq

[natedog]

The Bakersfield Californian
Sunday, January 5, 2003
Section A11

"WASHINGTON- About 100 U.S. Special Forces members and more than 50 Central Intelligence Agency officers have been operating in small groups inside Iraq for at least four months, searching for Scud missile lauchers, monitoring oil fields, marking minefield sites, and using lasers to help U.S. pilots bomb Iraqi air-defense systems, according to intelligence officials and military analysts who have talked with the teams...

"We're bombing practically every day as we patrol the no-fly zones, taking out air defense batteries, and ther are all kinds of CIA and Special Forces operations going on. So I would call it the beginning of a war," said Timur J. Eads, a former U.S. special operations officer for 20 years who took part in missions inside Iraq in the 1990's.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that some Special Forces members were following suspicious movements around suspected weapons sites and that information could be turned over to the U.N. teams. The administration refuses to do so, out of concern that the reports might be passed to Iraqi officials.....

A large contingent of CIA and Special Forces is reported to be operating relatively freely in northern Iraq, where Hussein's reach has been weakened because the area falls under a no-fly zone and because of the Kurds antipathy towards a regime that has gassed there people"....

Looks like it's too late to do anything about preventing war. Let's just hope we get there in time to prevent Iraq from handing out any NBC weapons to terrorists.

 

[4v50 Gary]

The post Christmas activation of reserves is a clue. Hopefully it's quick and our casualties are minimal. If Saddam is really smart (and I never believed that he was crazy like some folks were saying when Sr. was El Jefe), he'd resign and take his loot and settle elsewhere. Die rich & powerless is better than sitting in a jail or dead. Better for us too.

 

[PATH]

I know it is going to happen. I just hope a lot of our people don't get killed.

 

[Tamara]

I dunno, I think Saddam's chances to pack up his Louis Vuitton "Dictator"-edition luggage and phone up a real estate agent in some postage-stamp-sized country with slack banking and extradition treaties dried up some 10 years ago.

Even if we were to turn 180* and offer him the "Ferdinand Marcos Relocation Package", I wouldn't put it past the Israelis to sic Mossad on him for those Scud attacks on Tel-Aviv.

 

[Blackhawk]

You may be right on the exile, Tamara, but I think a U.S. sanctioned exile is still possible.

As for the Mossad, I think the only way for Saddam to be safe from it in exile would be if the U.S. brokered it backstage.

 

[Blackhawk]

Looks like it's too late to do anything about preventing war.

Right, I'm afraid.

As for the "going to war with Iraq" timeline, remember that most people still think we entered WWII on December 8, 1941, while forgetting that we were heavily engaged in supporting Britain long before that. The Swiss know how to practice neutrality, but we've never had the stomach for letting things "just happen" even if we have to trick the American public into thinking otherwise.

Also, remember the Flying Tigers and the Lafayette Escadrille.

Wars "officially" start when the government says so no matter how long they've actually been going on.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Unfortunately that now looks to be the case.

I'm just very afraid that we're going from defender nation to agressor nation for very thin reasons.

 

[gryphon]

I think that deep down, we all knew there would be another war. What the bigger mystery was/is, is WHEN.

 

[hammer4nc]

Tamara said:

...I think Saddam's chances to pack up his Louis Vuitton "Dictator"-edition luggage and phone up a real estate agent in some postage-stamp-sized country with slack banking and extradition treaties dried up some 10 years ago.

Lots of reports on the net of a "saddam city", being furiously built outside Tripoli, and a $2Billion security deposit having been made there. If other arab leaders can pressure Saddam to quit, I think (hope) most everyone would still prefer a voluntary exile, to the carnage of a NBC war. Deadline looms...

 

[Ed Brunner]

It would not surprise me to see Saddam pick up and haulbooty to Lybia. According to some it's a done deal.

 

[cookhj]

i don't know, unless some of the arab leaders start talking more and saddam starts acting, we're gonna be over there by march. if that's the case, y'all won't see me around for a while. personally i think that if saddam is forced to go to war, he's gonna go out with a bang, and i think all of you know what i mean by that.

 

[Redlg155]

It's hard to speculate on what he will do. About the only thing we do know is that it will happen.

You know, I think its kinda sad that we have to mobilize our reserve forces to fight such a war. Whatever happened to having a strong active military force?

Good SHooting
RED

 

[Deadman]

Aircraft carriers are pretty important in this type of warfare. And the other day it was reported on the news here recently, that the (I think) U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln which was on its way back to the U.S. had to quickly return to the port of Fremantle in western Australia for 'repairs', and would most likely head back to the Gulf. FWIW.

 

[natedog]

Is it known exactly how many aircraft carriers we have?

 

[capt_happypants]

Red,

Most of the Reserve units being called up to duty handle logistics and rear-area tasks. IIRC, most of the "teeth" units are active duty, but the really important guys and gals who drive trucks, deliver ammo, fix things, and keep the fighting men fed and equipped are all reserve and National Guard units.

Remember: amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics.

 

[Mike Irwin]

The following US aircraft carriers are currently active:

• Kitty Hawk
• Constellation
• Enterprise
• John F. Kennedy
• Nimitz
• Eisenhower
• Carl Vinson
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Abraham Lincoln
• George Washington
• John Stennis
• Harry S. Truman

The Ronald W. Reagan is still fitting out, and is scheduled to be commissioned as an active fleet carrier on May 10 of this year.

And HOLY SWEET CHRIST, the CVN 77? Guess what the US Navy says its name is going to be?

The USS George H.W. Bush!!!



Yeah, I liked the guy, but God dammit!

STOP NAMING CARRIERS AFTER POLITICIANS!

The LAST thing I want to see is a USS William Jefferson Clinton!

 

[eotp]

I don't like it at all.

Just a waste of manpower and national resources for absolutely nothing.

 

[Seeker]

I predict 2/1/03 for the start of hostilities.

Not that I am in favor of it but that is when it will start, I predict.

 

[TheeBadOne]

Saddam will hold on and ride his throne all the way to the bottom, there's no other way for a dictator to go.

 

[Master Blaster]

OIL

Its simple to understand.

George W. is an oil man.

Iraq has the secondlargest oil reserves in the world.

We aint getting our piece, WE WANT SOME.

Iraq has given us the perfect excuse, non compliance with the UN agreements, after the gulf war.

Its for the good of all who drive and need cheap gasoline.

We will get paid back for the cost by taking the oil.

We will show all in the middle east that we can kick their butts anytime we want.

I would have started with our most dangerous enemies the Saudis, but there is Mecca and Medina to consider, and all of the muslums would be pissed if we took their holiest cities. I am a Jew, I am forever forbidden from entering Saudi Arabia, have been for many years, I am hated by the Saudis my death would be a Joyous event to their clerics, though I dont know them.

Before you flame me I voted for President Bush.

I understand what he is doing.

I agree.

 

[Atticus]

Mater Blaster: I disagree. Oil deals with Iraq were always available. The US could have bought cheap oil forever if we'd turned a blind eye to the invasion of Kuwait.

I believe this is about sending a message. It demonstrates to world leaders that we are willing to do whatever is needed to eliminate threats to U.S. concerns (including the lives of US Presidents)- even if that means removing heads of states via invasion. Saddam is the Milosevic of the Middle East and he will probably be removed in a similar fashion.

 

[4v50 Gary]

My naval rant...

Just as a sidenote, I hate the practice of naming carriers after people. I prefer names taken from battles. Take for example, Carl Vinson - ask the common man on the street if he knows who Carl Vinson was. Betcha the Gen X (in their thirties now?) don't know who Nimitz was either and don't count on Gen Y to know who Ike was. Not that they know about Oriskany or Bennington either. Constellation is acceptable & she's called the Connie by her crew (ships are traditionally referred to with the feminine pronoun "she") but what will the Ronald Reagan be called? "Ronnie" or "Reggae?" Naming CVN 77 "George W. Bush" and we'll add the "Georgie" to the fleet. Gawd help us if there's a Clinton. Come to think of it, if I were Secretary of the Navy, I'd name a boat the Clinton. She'll be the newest garbage scow in the fleet and all the worse sailors will be assigned to her.

 

[SodaPop]

Let's just hope they give us the scoup before they go in.