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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HG who wrote (12062)	2/23/2003 4:25:34 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

I don't think shock and awe is a viable policy at all. And i doubt if US plans to use it. I believe the write up was a piece of psychological warfare to scare and demoralise Saddam, but someone forgot to tell Bush that threats like these serve to worsen the situation by forcing an opponent into a corner where he's in a position to win sympathy by being in a victim's role Another very good post & have to agree with this , and up till now has caused alot of the stir. How many times have we heard the inevitable repeated story of countless thousands of women , children and soldiers ...and the COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ refered to on this board ? They did their job too well, imo...but it has had the desired effect on the opponent. Of course the military planners have something else entirely in mind if and when they do invade , though there will be some initial shock&awe in certain areas , but mostly avoided and removed from the cities.(hopefully) The wildcards are of course the destruction of the wells , and the resistance encountered within the cities themselves , though I feel strongly as you that this is probably not going to materialize in much force and actual opposition given the willingness (imo) of the Iraqis to be liberated . All any Iraqi has to do is look across the borders to Kuwait and it's security , plus the quickly refound prosperity there with our presence to convince them we are not "Evil". This could also very well be their own ... Up till now I agree with you they have gone a bit over the top with allowing the perception of that kind of War's execution take root, but it will be over so quickly and decisively a certain deflation of those "expectations", on the part of the "peaceful~worried" will surely overcome the former hysteria and leave many flat. Any civilian collateral damage will be avoided at all costs , this we know, and pray is so. No matter what Bush does , or how guided or misguided he will not win any popularity contests ever abroad because of the richness of the classic stereotype he represents , but real test will come in the aftermath and how well we execute all facets of the reconstruction . I think in that area there is as strong a determination to succede as the very quick neutralizing of the military of Saddam's rule . That will be one of our wildCards , plus cheaper oil worldwide that some believe will be the case with Iraq's return to the world scene as an oil producer and some newly found prosperity after reconstruction. Some will continue to rant and rail. That's freedom of speech of course. Hard to argue with prosperity , even though some wounds will take long to heal, and the current US economic scene may still plunge the entire world into a recession . Another wildcard , not good to imagine. It's a Net of Gems as always , but I think Bin Laden and company have gravely miscalculated, and will be emasculated even with martyrdom in the end. Young Arab and muslim boys will still be sporting Bin Laden tee-shirts in decades to come , as with Che . PS: Busloads of Kuwaiti kids drive by some of our installations and always are waving to the troops there.