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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (83726)	3/19/2003 12:42:16 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

debka is saying that US troops have already invaded Iraq without the preliminary air campaign. In other words, the whole "Shock and Awe" thing was disinformation, psychological warfare. IST 15:10 [7:10 AM EST] Invasion begins US war commanders grabbed the element of surprise after all. While most analysts and forecasters predicted a mighty aerial-missile blitz over Baghdad as the war’s opener, the campaign began Wednesday, March 19 with a lighting advance by Marine forces into southern Iraq along the Shatt el Arb River towards the big naval base and town of Umm Qasr. Fighting alongside the Americans are two brigades of the British 1st Armored Division and naval vessels landing Marine units south of Basra. The first clash of the war occurred shortly after in the mouth of the Khawr al-Zubayr river, a few miles south of Umm Qasr. The US-UK column is heading at top speed for the oil fields of southern Iraq which have been surrounded by American and British special forces since earlier this month. DEBKAfile’s military experts view this first major military move in the war as a bold tactic to prevent the sabotage of the oil fields, with the largest field in southern Iraq, Rumailah, at highest risk. A second column of US 3rd Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on the Iraqi border with Kuwait accompanied by thousands of tanks, combat vehicles and fuel trucks. My own bet is that there will be no war as such, just a few mopping up operations in places like Tikrit, where there are pockets of men trapped who are too deeply implicated in Saddam's regime to survive the transition. But most of these men are running away now, imo. I wouldn't be surprised if the Kurds do have Tariq Aziz.