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

To: LindyBill who wrote (85155)	3/23/2003 12:28:04 PM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Bill, I understand your position but I think what you call politics is better understood as big picture planning. The US has to stick around and rebuild Iraq, while it has confidence in a 2-week plan to capture Baghdad, it is smart to keep civilian casualties and infrastructure damage very minimal. You cannot rule people if they hate you and if the US doesn't establish rule right away, big mess, many many more people will die. If the plan in Baghdad gets bogged down, then you have to fight to win, but right now they are trying to win the whole war not just the shooting war. It is worth trying for 2 weeks. Paul

To: LindyBill who wrote (85155)	3/23/2003 1:43:33 PM
From: Sig	Respond to of 281500

<<If we come out of this having to go house to house, these "Rules of Engagement" are going to kill a lot of troops. Shades of Vietnam! >>> I think we have a plan, I know we have a plan. I would guess we even have 4 plans. And I hope nobody in the Press knows or even guesses what they are. It has been known for years that Saddam hides behind civilians and that Baghdad would be his final and most heavily fortified stand. And that he probably would not surrender. Uncle Sam , Uncle Franks and some very brave soldiers/ airmen will handle the problems. Saddams cage and coffin are both ready- his choice Regards Sig

To: LindyBill who wrote (85155)	3/24/2003 1:52:25 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi LindyBill; Re: "If we come out of this having to go house to house, these "Rules of Engagement" are going to kill a lot of troops. Shades of Vietnam!" These are the facts: (1) The ignorant civilians are running the show and calling the shots, just like in Vietnam. That's why they cancelled the new artillery gun, that the military was crying for, about a year ago. The ignorant civilians think they know it all, so they have no problem giving the military orders that are inconsistent. (2) The US doesn't have enough troops to garrison a hostile Iraq, so it is imperative that we stay on good relations with the locals. Otherwise, we'd have to reinstate the draft. (3) Our leaders are so stupid that they don't realize what the effect our 12 year starvation and bombing campaign on the locals' opinions of us have been (not to mention the effect on the Southerners of our abandoning their rebellion 12 years ago). (4) So this administration being the "hope mode" administration, they're hoping that the Iraqi civilians will have a remarkable turn around in their opinion of us. The only silver lining this cloud has is that the Bushies are so truly dense that they're not skillful enough to drag this thing out like Johnson or Nixon did. -- Carl