>> That won't occur until the 13th or 14th of March.
Yes, I realise that.
If you scroll to the bottom of the article they point out another good reason for late march/early april... the troops won't be ready till then.
14 March 2003
The Maritime Administration announced on January 27 that it had activated 13 additional Ready Reserve Force ships on Friday January 24 to support Operation Enduring Freedom. These ships include the Cape Edmont, Cape Henry, Cape Horn, Cape Hudon, Cape Inscription, Cape Intrepid, Cape Isabel, Cape Island, Cape Orlando, Cape Ray, Cape Washington, Cape Wrath, and the Admiral Callaghan. Additional ships that have been activated recently, but have not been previously disclosed include the Cape Ducato, Cape Gibson, Cape John, and Cape Johnson. These ships should began to arrive at their destinations on or about February 4 and began to upload their equipment. By February 21 nearly every ship carrying equipment for the 4th Infantry Division were off the coast of Turkey awaiting permission to make port and download equipment. On February 25, 2003 multiple ships were reported to have docked at Iskenderun. Provided that most of the berths at the Port are available it could take some days for all of the ships in the carrying equipment to be offloaded. From there the equipment would be shipped via rail to a location further west, which does not extend to the border with Iraq. By March 14, 2003 all of the equipment from the 25 or so cargo vessels and the troops from the 4th Infantry Division should be in place in Turkey.
01 April 2003
The New Moon on 01 April would provide cover of darkness for American forces entering Baghdad. Using night-vision capabilities, this could be helpful in achieving surprise, with the attacker deriving additional advantages from the defender's inability to aim his fire effectively.
globalsecurity.org |
