Saddam Battle Plan?! Says who?

[tombread]

Rather abruptly we are hearing more about a plan to get rid of Saddam Hussein, using perhaps 250,000 ground troops.

Has anyone heard any substantive info about why the Iraqi invasion has taken on new immediacy?

Any information about how we are to do this without the Desert Storm coalition behind us?

This plan sounds like BS to me, and as I have a son in the Corps, I want to hear very good reasons why we are considering a ground war in the middle east... with the Brits as our only likely allies on the ground.

 

[Betty]

Okay, so our office had a lunch at a local restaurant and my boss - yes, that boss, (after one margarita), says he heard from a "reliable source" that we are within one month of a full-scale Saddam-vasion.

The "reliable source" is some-kind-of-an-army-intel-guy who travels around with this mysterious black suitcase 24 hours a day; the kind of black suitcase that can't leave his sight, and he can't tell anybody what's in it unless he kills you afterwards.

Apparently this guy says he was shipped off to "the Middle East area, but I can't tell you exactly where", wasn't told where but found out when he landed, and "helped set up stuff".

So this guy says "within one month we're doing something major over there and 'they' are going to be doing something major over here. That's all I can tell you, so make sure you're not near any major cities at that time."

I don't believe the above, but my boss will sure rub in the "I told you so" if it does happen. I'm just hoping he didn't tell everyone else I'm a secret uber-sniper ninja warrior after I left and he had a few more drinks.

I wouldn't doubt if something is cooking in the background, but I doubt an all-out ground war.

 

[Jeff White]

runt,

Go ahead and bet your boss that there won't be an American invasion in a month. Here's why your sure to win:

We don't have the forces in place to mount such an invasion and we couldn't mobilize them and get them there that fast. It's a physical impossibility. Real Army Intel guys don't usually talk about what they really do, much less about what they know. your bosses source was probably a Navy SEAL last week



tombread,

Our joint commands produce contingency plans for all kinds of things. Somewhere in some file there is probably a plan to invade the UK or Canada. It's their job anticipate what we may need to do in the theater they are responsible for. Things like this are leaked for political and strategy reasons all the time. Could be the administration wants to send someone a message......

Jeff

 

[Blackhawk]

I was a part of many secret operations during Vietnam. I never knew about them until long after they happened. The little cogs just do what they're told, and what others are doing is none of their business.

You can tune your BS meter with this perspective: All security clearences are tempered with the "need to know" caveat where specific information is concerned. Somebody can have a top secret clearence, but without a "need to know" about an operation, they will be privy to NOTHING about it.

Additionally, anybody with the right clearence and sensitive information who leaks by implication, directly, or constructively is in BIG trouble, just like Robert Hanssen even if not paid by an adversary....

 

[Waterdog]

The medias hype of this forthcoming event, is for Saddams ears only.

Can you say PSYWAR.

Waterdog

 

[Rail Gun]

I don't believe we'll invade Iraq again. We'll have virtually no middle east allies to stage our operations from. No Saudi Arabia, no Kuwait. Just Turkey. The middle east nations are trying to use the excuse of the palistinian situation to avoid getting involved with our plan to oust Saddam. They don't want to help us and it's not because of Israel. It's because they're afraid they'll be next after Iraq. And since they all sponsor terror they have reason to fear.

 

[Destructo6]

I've heard, through old contact on SEAL Team 5, that part one of the multi-phase plan is to covertly insert 40 3-man teams of crazy ninjas. Where they found that many, I couldn't tell you.

 

[Jeff White]

I've heard, through old contact on SEAL Team 5, that part one of the multi-phase plan is to covertly insert 40 3-man teams of crazy ninjas. Where they found that many, I couldn't tell you.

Isn't it kind of irresponsible to strip our malls of security at a time like this when we are facing so many threats at home? Does Tom Ridge know about this?

Jeff

 

[Deadman]

One month aye?

Wasn't there some concern of mounting an attack during summer in a desert nation?

 

[Gary H]

Waterdog has it right.

Also, I'm sure that we already have folks on the ground in Iraq. I suspect that the Iraqi people would view the U.S. troops as liberators...assuming a better government is installed.

 

[tombread]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I know we conduct war games simulations and have a load of them in the bank, but the sudden emphasis on an Iraqi invasion made me wonder if I missed something.

It is likely political posturing, though I hope we aren't going ot hang Iraqi dissidents out to dry like we did the Kurds with talk of overthrow and help and imminent invasion....

 

[Skorzeny]

We already have personnel in place in the "No Fly" zones, particularly the Kurdish areas.

Unfortunately, having been abandoned not once, but twice by us, the Kurds have cut a deal with the present Iraqi regime and do not welcome any effort to topple the current regime.

They have their autonomy of sorts. They don't want to rock the boat and draw Saddam Hussein's ire on themselves again and they certainly don't want a new, stronger regime in Baghdad that is friendly with the West.

That leaves the Shi'ites and the Iraqi National Congress. The Shi'ites are a big question mark and the INC does not have much military presence.

Skorzeny

 

[Apple a Day]

Typical misdirection: Hey! We're planning to attack from all of these places. Therefore you must spread your forces thinly to cover them all, then panic about how thinly your forces are spread, burning up all sorts of resources to protect against an attack which isn't coming anytime soon.

Hide your methods so as to appear formless, thus your enemy cannot prepare a defense against you, as Sun Tzu might say.

 

[flinch_of_gt]

There's an old saw: "Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."

The key supply item that fighting men need in the Middle East is water. Lots of it. Operating during the summertime will require millions of gallons of water to prevent heatstroke among infantrymen. Assuming that Saddam will deploy chemical and biological weapons against U.S. formations, even more water is needed for decontamination operations. Soldiers in full MOPP-4 protective gear will drop dead in the heat unless they're able to stay hydrated.

The War on Iraq will begin during the winter of '02. It's a lot cooler, and the U.S. won't need as much water.

 

[Gary H]

Saddam knows that he will be attacked. Why would he wait for someone to kill him? Perhaps the timing will not be of our making.

 

[DMK]

My take on this is that the US is trying to provoke Saddam with the hope that he will do something stupid and then we have a reason to retaliate. These "leaks" are just a little too detailed and convenient to the press.

Waterdog hit the nail on the head. It's dissinformation.

 

[Merkava]

Water?

You may talk of gin and beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere
An' you're sent to penny fights and Aldershot it
But when it comes to slaughter
You'll do your work on water
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im thats got it

 

[BarrySDCA]

I don’t think we have any choice but to remove Sadam. He is refusing to let UN inspectors in and it’s a pretty safe bet he is building some form of weapon of mass destruction or nasty biological agent. It’s also a safe bet that he wants to use them against us. We have no choice...

 

[Jamie Young]

Last time we told Saddam we weren't going into Baghdad.

This time we "are" telling him we are going into Baghdad.

I think this is all BS and someone somewhere is just going to knock him off. If we actually made a move against Iraq, it would have to start with nukes. Saddam would send Scuds straight into Israel (with Bio or Chem weapons) in a second if we just drove in after him. But that won't happen.

This is called "saber rattling" or just plain old "staring down" your enemy.

 

[Tom B]

Maybe we should attack Kuwait instead? A much easier target and "Shrub" could still say that "the war on terror" continues. "Shrub" better do something quick because the way the economy is going and government spending is increasing vs take-in "Shrub" is going to have a lot more Democrat friends to work with soon. Remember the quote...."its the ecomomy stupid!"