Will Wednesday be the critical day in this war?

I'm suspecting that the coalition forces (that's for you doves ) will not actually invade Baghdad for several days, but instead surround it. Then, with a few well calibrated "fakes" into rushing the city, the Republican Guard will mass together to form a defense and then be carpet bombed when doing so. I don't see any advantage to actually entering Baghdad until the Republican Guard is thoroughly whipped from the air. That, in itself, will be difficult since they have melded into civilian populations. It won't be pretty, but the US has to stop fighting this as a politically correct war, and just pound unmercifully from the skies.

 

With this news lockdown you definitely get the feeling something's brewing, the embedded reporters haven't been heard from for hours.

 

Besieging armies throughout history have never had an easy time taking a well-supplied city filled with determined fighters.

Go back to Ancient Rome through the Middle Ages through WWII and you'll find that even when the army outside the city greatly outnumbers the defenders inside the city it is rarely, if ever, easy to win.

 

Most importantly we have to win this war. The fallout (no pun intended) if we lose would be unthinkable.

That being said, we also have to do it with as few casualties -- on our side -- as possible.

That means pound away. And you have to think that if Iraq is planning to use chemical weapons, here's where it happens. This really has the potential to be one ugly, ugly mess.

I would not want to be a civilian in Baghdad right now.

 

The fallout would be beyond unthinkable, it would open us up to even more terrorist attacks than are already planned.

I'm confident the war will be won, I'm just hoping that we can do it without turning Baghdad into total worm dirt.

 

I suggest you go back and read why the Greeks used the horse. Before they did, they beseiged Troy for 10 years, and weren't making any real progress.

That's if, or course, you believe the legend to be true.

Typically, though, defenders in a siege have a distinct advantage over attackers.

 

Until you pull a Constantinople and start lobbing dead plague-infested cattle over the city walls. Was that the first use of biological weapons?

 

It wasn't the first use of biological weapons, but certainly the largest use prior to that time. The Romans had a tendency to throw rotting carcasses into the cities they were attacking too, and poisoning water supplies goes back at least to the time of Alexander the Great.

And the besiegers of Constantinople didn't start lobbing the cattle over the city walls until after a few years of unsuccesful attempts to have the defenders surrender.

 

as soon as we get anywhere close <i am talking 15 miles or so> you are going to see those republican guards pull up and run like hell in to the city. they know what is at stake, they know that fighting in the city is where they gain their best advantage. saddam learned from the last war against us-coaltion forces that if his troops sit out in the open they are going to take a beating from the air power. i would not be shocked it a majority of the troops are already in the city. hopefully we have some special forces <or those iraqi defectors we trained> in the city to feed us some good intelligence as to the movements of the iraqi republican guards. personally i dont think saddam is in baghdad anymore, i think he is in tikrit at this point <sp?>

 

Saddam could just as well be dead, unless you consider a tape edited 67 times to be 'proof' of him being alive/uninjured.

 

i am working on the assumption that he is alive, whether he is or not is another story, but i think the coalition is working on that assumption as well. i just have a feeling that bombing may have injured him and scared him to all hell <thinking someone is his 'own' group betrayed him> that made him run and take cover in a city he might feel more comfortably in...just a thought.

 

Does the name Dresden ring a bell?

Time for MOAB's and Fuel-Air munitions.

 

Urban renewal at its finest!!!

 

I'll go ahead and do it: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

That wasn't because I think it's a bad idea.....

 

Does the phrase phyrric victory ring a bell?

 

What's more important the lives of American soldiers or the lives of Baghdad residents?

Or

!7,000 dead Americans or 17,000 dead Iraqi's?

 

The bagdad residents because they're civilian.

 

The Soldiers because their American!!!

 

I thought we were talking about besieging a city, not destroying it.

Dresden was not exactly Great Britian's and the USA's proudest moment.

Dresden had no military value whatsoever. The Allies obliterated it to get revenge for Nazi bombing raids into the UK.

 

That's really not funny at all. It's sick.

 

And the bagdad residents are in their homeland.

 

If we flatten Baghdad we've already lost the peace...

 

Do you really think Bush and his administration really care about the peace after this is over?

And no, I'm not trying to be facetious.