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

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (88663)	4/1/2003 6:27:38 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I agree the brits are doing a terrific job. Especially in the reporting department. Building upon the base of wins is important and hearts and minds are very important. The embedded reporters are making it easier for our staff planners and more difficult for our line units. The planners are getting much needed info yet the Arnett and Heraldo BS is disconcerting. Arnett is gone...Heraldo will have trouble getting troops to talk to him now, except for those who want to be seen on TV back home. Unfortunately the troops do not get to see the TV reports in the field. But for certain they will not like anyone in their midst who is deemed untrustworthy. The reporters' reports that our bloodied troops are gung ho and willing and wanting to carry on is seen by many as a negative. It is painted as negative by squeamish reporters who have no tolerance for the violence. The blood and gore reports are meant to be offensive to all of us. War is bloody...very bloody. Friendly fire incidents and collateral damage are a daily fact of life. I, for one, would like to see General Brooks forego his daily explanation of how careful our targeting procedures are to concentrate on explaining that this is a fight to the death. Sneaky, tricky and dirty are the opponents' tactics and our guys are hard charging into their midst to win this thing. Brutality, blood and death are everywhere on a battlefield. Bravado, comradeship and bravery incidents by American soldiers are not being reported. That needs to change right now. The detailed reporting of every negative incident that does not meet a reporter's preconceived notions about war must be balanced with detailed reporting about the hundreds of positive stories about how our troops and units are performing. To do less is a disservice. We are all armchair quarterbacks here. We are applying today's perspective to yesterday's problems. I have read every story I could find about the van shooting incident. The press has yet to report the heavily tinted windows that made a view inside impossible. I am convinced that had I been the platoon leader on the ground in that situation...I would have ordered the shooting too. That LT had to make a split second decision in the midst of combat. He placed the welfare of his troops first and foremost. His decision was a difficult one...one that brave men are often called upon to make in combat. I would commend him. Thank God we have men who will fight. Our soldiers involved in that incident will not like it. They will not party over it. They will be just as horrified as the rest of the world. They need to be reassured that the decision was a good one and in their best interests. War is organized chaos at best. It is legalized murder to some. It is horrible, heartbreaking, demoralizing, and injurious to physical and mental health. It is exhilarating, satisfying, and motivating to some. It is extremely hazardous to all on the battlefield, both combatants and non-combatants. The manipulation of public opinion is changing my mind about the reporting overall...I am beginning to wish we had laid out the body of every woman and child killed in NYC for the world to see. I am beginning to wish we would show the dead, hacked bodies and body parts of our POWs who were captured alive. If the reporters want to give us the real feeling of war in our living rooms, they should send the full sights, sounds and smells through our TVs not just the parts that do not meet their taste.

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (88663)	4/1/2003 12:06:45 PM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Agreed...the Brits are putting on an incredible display. Btw, more good news. British, U.S. Report Encouraging Signs in Southern Iraq: Troops in Berets, Civilians Warming Up ap.tbo.com CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) - British and U.S. officials reported signs Tuesday that the tide of war in southern Iraq may be turning in their favor: Iraqis are increasingly warming to their presence, and some troops felt safe enough to wear berets rather than combat helmets in towns firmly under their control. Those signals, however, were tempered by continued resistance by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, a major battle looming for Baghdad, and possible fallout from the killing of at least seven Iraqi women and children by U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint. In the southeastern corner of Iraq, though, British forces pointed to developments that they said signaled a shift in their favor may be under way. Lights flickered on for the first time in months in the port city of Umm Qasr, and schools and shops were reopening, said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf. Significantly, more civilians were informing foreign troops about the whereabouts of paramilitary forces and members of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, British officials said. In four towns - Umm Qasr, Zubayr, Rumeila and Safwan - British troops felt so secure that they swapped their combat helmets for less protective berets, and adopted a less aggressive posture in wielding their weapons, British officials said. Lockwood said the berets and relaxed posturing make the soldiers appear more friendly and approachable, and serve as a confidence-building measure on both sides. "It shows that we have confidence in them, and they can have confidence in us," he said. In Nasiriyah, where the coalition has met with stiff resistance, civilians were now helping U.S. special forces stage raids and find troops loyal to Saddam, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters Tuesday at a news conference in Qatar. Brooks said local Iraqis are "increasingly willing" to aid the U.S. and British forces throughout the main areas of fighting. Marines were aided by 100 tribal fighters who helped battle Iraqi forces and remove explosives from a bridge north of Nasiriyah. Their help also resulted in the capture of POWs, he said. In the western desert, after Army Rangers destroyed a commando headquarters a few days ago, civilians helped Army troops locate buildings where regime ammunition was held and helped troops remove it for destruction, he said. One senior U.S. Central Command official said late Monday that he sensed the "tipping point" - when Iraqis would turn against the regime entirely - was near in Basra and Nasiriyah. Lockwood stressed that tensions were still high in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, where British forces have skirmished almost daily with forces loyal to Saddam while trying to provide humanitarian aid to the city's 1.3 million people. Military operations continued in the region, including a raid on Baath party members in the town of Safwan, said another British spokesman, Col. Chris Vernon. But Lockwood said residents were increasingly willing to approach British troops who have ringed Basra to provide information about known paramilitaries and other loyalists. "They realize that we are there to liberate them, not to occupy," he said. In addition, more humanitarian aid was flowing into the region, including from the United Nations and other aid organizations, he said. "Within the southern area of Iraq, we see a large degree of normality starting to appear amongst the Iraqi population," Lockwood said. U.S. and British officials have acknowledged the expected support for coalition troops by anti-Saddam Shiite residents of Basra and other southern towns hasn't happened to any large degree. They attributed the residents' wariness to the fact that when Shiites did rise up in 1991, allied forces largely abandoned them and left them to be punished or killed by the Iraqi leadership. "They have suffered tragically, enormously under the Saddam Hussein regime," Lockwood said. "And although it's taken some time because of the events of 1991, they're beginning to gain the confidence now, they know we're not going away."