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The taking of Baghdad- Do the Allies know what to do?
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
It seems that the worst case scenario drawn by the Allies is coming true. Saddam's regime hasn't crumbled, uprisings have not materialised, the Iraqis are putting up a fight rather fiercer than the US and Britain had hoped for and the reception from the civilian population hasn't been the 'flowers and smiles' predicted. So, it looks like they're going to have to get in themselves to 'liberate' Baghdad.
Will they send foot soldiers to remove soldiers and fighters loyal to Saddam house by house? Will they siege the city and cut all supplies hoping for a surrender when the food runs out? Or will they simply continue bombing the city and hope to eliminate all resistance from the air?
Neither of those scenarios is a pretty one and casualties on both sides and on the civilian population are likely to be very high. There is still a chance that the regime will crumble and we see an Afghanistan-style implosion- which would by far be the least bloody outcome. But the chances of that are not great.
In any case the Allies should reconsider the now constant bombing of Baghdad as it is achieving very little militarily (how many times can you bomb an empty shell of a building?) and causing many unnecessary civilian casualties. Not to mention increasing the anti-American and British sentiment across the Muslim and Arab worlds and the defiance of the Iraqi population.
Will they send foot soldiers to remove soldiers and fighters loyal to Saddam house by house? Will they siege the city and cut all supplies hoping for a surrender when the food runs out? Or will they simply continue bombing the city and hope to eliminate all resistance from the air?
Neither of those scenarios is a pretty one and casualties on both sides and on the civilian population are likely to be very high. There is still a chance that the regime will crumble and we see an Afghanistan-style implosion- which would by far be the least bloody outcome. But the chances of that are not great.
In any case the Allies should reconsider the now constant bombing of Baghdad as it is achieving very little militarily (how many times can you bomb an empty shell of a building?) and causing many unnecessary civilian casualties. Not to mention increasing the anti-American and British sentiment across the Muslim and Arab worlds and the defiance of the Iraqi population.
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You take out the hardcore fanaticism fanatics and the rest should crumble. *In theory anyway*
Although this war doesn’t seem to be going as they might have expected, it’s still very early!
The best chance now would be to obtain credible confirmation Saddam is dead and take out the remaining officers. But since convincing the Iraqi public of the former will be rather difficult and achieving the latter a long and arduous work, the regime would hold on for quite some time yet.
Essentially youd be suggesting that we massacre most of the civilian population? That would forever eliminate any possible credence the "coalition of the bought" hope to gain in the eyes of the Iraqis as well as the much broader Islamic world.
And well we all know that we’ll need to send troops in the city, the way I see it…..
If you have the addresses of saddams’s major key followers, you don’t need any bombs, Troops will be able to go in there in APCs and with tanks and do raids on the address
Surprise attacks on major key followers would send bigger shockwaves mentally into “The regime” then any bombs would. They’d be in fear because we know where they live!
Yes, people would be killed. Such is war. But not as much as bombs and missiles!
Yeah, I know this is speculation and hypothesising on my part! Sorry, Bored at work
Some Iraqi generals are working with us too. Others are being assinated by Special Ops troops. If our troops go in, it might not be street-to-street. They may land on roof tops, flush out the Guard and shoot THEM like snipers from the roof tops.
Given that the US and Britain are desperately trying to shake off claims that an allied missile was responsible for the two market explosions that killed 80+, the disclosure of that information plays very nicely into their hands.
It is not just the Guard Allied soldiers would be fighting... there are many plain clothes fighters loyal to Saddam. They don't obey direct orders but simply are found all over the city armed with assault rifles. The best option would be for the Iraqi population to rebel against these people. The Allies had been counting on this and I think they've been surprised to see much higher levels of loyalty to Saddam than hoped for.
All told, we are the invaders in their land, however they might feel about Saddam, and the message sent by Dubyah and co is that we can come in and solve all their problems - a suggestion which even the very history of that country makes rather laughable.
Heck if I were an Iraqi Id likely take a shot or two myself after being deprived of sleep for over a week by incessant bombing raids. :rolleyes:
Or of a relative...
and humiliation. thats what i see. the whole thing is madness run by fools so our chances of winning are very slim.
Agreed. They both have far too much political capital invested in winning this war to pull out.