I gave some serious thought to hoping we would arrive to a more friendly Baghdad.
It is impossible to know the "Tipping Point." The Iraq Generals must know it is over. They have family in Baghdad. How bad do they want to make it?
BTW, for the "doubting thomas" types on this thread who want to see dancing Iraqis with flowers,
let them go to Najaf!
WASHINGTON POST
In Najaf
Jubilant Crowds Greet Troops Near Shrine
An enthusiastic welcome for U.S. forces in Najaf turned jubilant today, as several thousand Iraqis braved sporadic firefights for what one Special Forces officer described as "the Macy's Day parade," applauding a U.S. patrol that pushed close to a religious shrine at the center of the city.
Four days after encircling Najaf, the 101st Airborne Division tightened the occupation today. Three infantry battalions rolled through the streets, including neighborhoods around the venerated tomb of Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. A company of 14 M1 Abrams tanks clanked up and down the southern boulevards, and another brigade of several thousand troops cinched the cordon on the north, seizing arms caches and swapping fire with elusive gunmen who are now believed to number no more than a few score.
In the midst of the fighting, a U.S. patrol approached Ali's tomb attempting to contact local clerics but were met instead by a crowd. Lt. Col. Chris Hughes, a battalion commander in the 1st Brigade, said, "We waited about an hour and a half, and the hair on the back of my neck began to stand up. The crowd got bigger and bigger, so we pulled back out. But it was like the liberation of Paris."
washingtonpost.com |
