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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chomolungma who wrote (69037)	3/28/2003 1:14:14 PM
From: runes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

<<a suggestion you made about securing the oil-fields and surrounding Baghdad.>> yes - it does appear to be defaulting to that tactic. <<You should be happy.>> Not at all. ...I would be if the administration had gone in with that tactic in mind. Because then they would have planned for occupying those cities. And they would have given Saddam an out rather then backing him into a corner. ...But they didn't and now Saddam is holding the cities for ransom and we are woefully unprepared for dealing with that situation. A nascent uprising in Basra was considered by the British to be a problem - they weren't prepared to support it so they had to discourage it. And the US troops turned around a group of refugees from An Nasiriyah and sent them back to that city. ...Why didn't our extensive intelligence prepare us for this possibility??? And yes - I will be the first to admit that I did not expect the Shia population to be so submissive. Apparently Saddam has been very effective in the last twelve years in breaking their will and convincing them that we are not to be trusted. Which is being amplified by the example I cited above. ...So even my suggestion might have ended up going thud. Which is why my 20-20 hindsight is wistfully looking back at a month ago. As a practical matter - we have already put our foot in it. And there is little chance of our going back to where we were. So I am afraid that our best option now is to go for the kill shot - Baghdad or bust. ...The one thing that I most wanted to avoid and now I am forced to endorse it. Words can not begin to describe what I am feeling right now.