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

To: BigBull who wrote (86719)	3/26/2003 6:32:33 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Dang, I was wrong. I thought the 101st would do it. Oh, well. Live and err. The 173d seems like a light force with which to grab them by the nose.

To: BigBull who wrote (86719)	3/26/2003 7:33:46 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Here's a couple of good maps of Northern Iraq. Notice the relationship between the -- Turkish border -- Mosel (Mosul, al Mawsil) -- Irbil (Arbil) -- Kirkuk -- and the various airfields in and around that triangle -- note also in the second, 3D, map, the closeness of Tikrit lib.utexas.edu lib.utexas.edu The complex operation, one of the largest U.S. airborne combat operations since World War II, takes the airborne brigade into an area controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of two Kurdish groups governing an autonomous area that had been protected by U.S. and British fighter patrols. It places the U.S. forces at a location where commanders say they can influence the actions of all Iraqi, Turkish and Kurdish forces, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the group governing the other part of the zone. The brigade is also positioned for involvement in the key cities of Irbil and Kirkuk, commanders said. So, given the vague clues in the article you posted, does anyone want to hazard a guess which airfield we have taken? -- above the 38th parallel (no fly zone) -- in the KDP area (see ref) lib.utexas.edu So I'd guess either: -- Bashur (NE of Irbil at KDP HQ) -- or at Irbil airfield shown as Ehbil Northwest on map iraq_north_g4_90 --fl

To: BigBull who wrote (86719)	3/26/2003 7:35:51 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

But they were concerned that flying a force onto a relatively primitive landing strip would take too long to build significant combat power. Commanders also favored the psychological impact they expect the airborne assault will have on all parties in the region..... Yeah, and the Officers wanted a combat jump star on their Paratrooper wings! Those guys hate to be landed.

To: BigBull who wrote (86719)	3/26/2003 9:07:07 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Woo-hoo! Thank you BB, for the encouraging news. I have to say that my own take on the Mother of All Sandstorms is that Allah is on our side with this one, making us slow down and consolidate and not try to impress the news junkies. I bet the Pentagon is nostalgic for the news reporting capacity circa WWII sometimes. As a female, I attribute part of it to the human male drive to compete and impress, which is adorable, but gets them into trouble sometimes.