Looks like everyone's sleeping in this weekend. That "show of force" in Baghdad killed 2,000 to 3,000 Iraqi fighters according to U.S. Central Command. We'll see how well this claim stands up after the war -- battlefield body counts aren't exactly known for conforming to generally accepted accounting principles. But US forces have almost encircled Baghdad, so that's good news. Unless you're rooting for Saddam. Sadly, at least a dozen of our Kurdish allies died and dozens others wounded in a friendly fire incident. Iraqi communications seem to have been, ah, disrupted, given that Saddam's using state television to order scattered fighters to join up with the nearest available unit. Nothing militarily new here, as Allied paratroopers had to do the same thing on D-Day, but one wonderes how many of these scattered fighters are going out to find the enemy on their own. And not to fight them, either. The US is they've found a terrorist camp southeast of Baghdad. No links to anyone yet, and it may just have been some basic training for fighters from other countries. We'll see. BTW, I have to agree with those who say the fighters from other countries are being let go by their governments on the principle of "Oh, good, we'll let the Americans kill you so we don't have to deal with you."
And as for the British... Big shit is going down Basra way. Small BBC report Account of actions from reporter there Sky report It seems all the waiting has finally come to an end.
CNN is reporting US planes have landed @ Baghdad International airport. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/06/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf denies it, saying they may have landed at Baghdad Airport, but certainly NOT Saddam Airport. Futhermore, he promises to take a group of reporters to the airport soon... just not today.
honestly, these fighters from other countries piss me off. so what will happen to them? will we release them to the foreign countries to which they have their passports? i have not heard anything about their status, b/c if i were some of them i would hate to be turned over to those countries...those egyptians, jordanian, etc. police don't treat those folks too kindly... i think if i were them i would have wished to have been killed instead of being turned over to the police of those various countries.
possibly, but the torture those 'fighters' are gonna get when they are turned over to their governments, they are going to wish they had been killed in fighting...
But.. But... I thought he said we werent anywhere near Baghdad... These guys are a joke. They cant even lie effectively without getting their stories crossed...
Getting captured by coalition forces is probably their best hope. Personally I hope they all get their heads blown off in combat. Ain't any of their business.
Yes, but...they're not sending them off to get killed, they're sending them off to kill as many Americans as they can before getting killed. They're not sending regiments, they're sending guerrillas, terrorists, insert rest of Harvey Korman's Blazing Saddles speech here. They're also supporting them financially. I guess it's better than sending them to the United States...oh, they did that already. It certainly isn't as if we're talking about regimes which are shy about killing people they see to be inconvenient. In any case, suppose we emptied our jails into Mexico and told them to take potshots at their armed forces. Is that a friendly act, or an unfriendly act?
Where's your crown, King Nothing? http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/5574111.htm
I'm guessing we'll treat them relatively well, despite the fact that they have no protection under the Geneva Conventions. I'd think we'll keep them separate from regular Iraqi EPW's and even maybe send some of them to Gitmo or the like. And, like others, I'd imagine that many will be sent back to the places from where they came, especially the Egyptians and Jordanians. The Syrians, Sudanis, and others from countries with not particularly good relations with the US will be kept in our hands for quite some time...or sent to other areas/governments who will come up with other ways to "handle" them.
mattieg said it better than I ever could. And in the case of Jordan and Egypt, relatively US-friendly regimes, there's less of a chance that anyone in the govt. is sending them there in the first place.
The smoking gun? Troops, journalists undergo cleanup for nerve gas exposure... http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/5573683.htm? Let's see...
I would think the heat we are taking for our treatment of Taliban and Al-Queda (who also have no protection under the Geneva Convention) will shape how we treat them. At least, I would hope.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...7/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_baghdad&cid=514&ncid=514 I bet there is some good plunder in those palaces.
bob arnet is on MSNBC taking a crap in his pants... he is in downtown baghdad at a presidential palace and has just been told to stop that the bunkers could be boobytrapped. he is now running after some army dude started yelling at him to get up and go...this is unreal <he just said, watch out land mines...stay in the tracks> i am amazed at technology right now.
I just saw a soldier on Fox holding a U. of Georgia flag and bragging that he's gonna take a shower - his first in a month - in Saddam's personal gold plated shower. Did I mention, they were standing in front of his presidential palace which they just took. Surreal.
How lame is MSNBC? Fox and CNN are going without commercial breaks. But MSNBC ... gotta pay the bills.
totally lame. i just called a friend that works in chicago at one of the main networks and she told me to go to bed, that this is no big deal. i was like 'what? if you didnt notice we are in baghdad' and she seemed not to care and said the networks are not planning to cut in anytime tonight as of right now...
They're gonna blow up a statue of Saddam on a horse. Hope there are pictures. This is just too interesting. And they just said they're going to wait for more media to get pictures blow it up.
no doubt. hence i will not get any sleep...and have to be at work in 4.5 hours. one commander just said that iraqi troops have been using HOT anti-tank missles, the only effective weapon they have been using, which are french anti-tank missles. hmm, is the truth gonna start coming out here real soon?