Bremer Pulling a Sharon?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Ramo

And naturally, reasonable input from Ned.

I guess you didn't read the part where I agreed with you about creating ill will.

I don't understand blowing the buildings up at all.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Accumulated frustration.

What I don't understand is how we can spare the resources to flatten houses with AC130's, but we can't just blow existing unsecured ammo and ordnance dumps.

[Ramo]

Gotta find the WMD's. Obviously, Shrub's political career is more important than the safety of Iraqis and US soldiers.

[Ramo]

Ned, I'm referring to this:
"Why not surround the places first, capture or kill the bad guys, and THEN blow up the buildings."

[Ramo]

Oh, and thanks for fixing the typo.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Ramo
Ned, I'm referring to this:
"Why not surround the places first, capture or kill the bad guys, and THEN blow up the buildings."

I know. But reference my first post. I was not advocating blowing up the buildings, but if they had to do so, why not get the bad guys first.

I still think the potential for creating ill will outweighs any benefit of a fireworks display.

[Ramo]

The major sticking point to me is making lots of people homeless. For absolutely no reason whatsoever.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ramo
Gotta find the WMD's. Obviously, Shrub's political career is more important than the safety of Iraqis and US soldiers.

So we set NBC detectors around the perimeter, have the grunts securing the perimeter in their MOPP-4s and then blow the ****ing dumps. We'll detect the WMD remnants as their molecules head for the stratosphere.

When we blew Khamisiyah it set off every NBC detector in the area.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ramo
The major sticking point to me is making lots of people homeless. For absolutely no reason whatsoever.

15 buildings isn't "lots of people" - I'd still like a real idea what the hell is going on.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ramo
Oh, and thanks for fixing the typo.

You're welcome.

[Ramo]

True, maybe 45 or so people isn't a huge number. But then again, it isn't all that significant either with regards to pissing off the Iraqis relative to everything else we've done so far (with regards to recent events I think they're - at least the Shia - much more pissed off about the lack of democracy in the post-occupation gov't).

But I'd be very worried if this becomes a consistent policy.

[Az]

copycats.

[Ted Striker]

bottom line is that this sh1t is working

about damn time they took the leash off instead of waiting around to get shot at

if the tactics stayed the way they were going the terrorists would just get bolder and bolder

[Kropotkin]

How do we know it's working? It seems a bit to early for such statements.

[Tripledoc]

I don't get the headline. Bremer pulling a Sharon. Is Bremer the one who is actually making the decisions in the military sphere? I thought he was in control of the civil administration only.

What is the exact chain of command there? Presumably Bush is the overall commander, he then hands down civil authority to Central command who hands it to a local military authority, 'Field Marshal' (Tommy Franks?). Bremer takes his orders form Bush, or maybe from the some other office. Is Franks over or under Bremer? Is the jurisdiction under military or civilian control? What happens if Franks and Bremer disagree?

Also presumably Condy Rice is now the one who is to co-ordinate all things concerning the war effort. Maybe she is the one who solves any differences beween the people under her. However, where does that leave Rumsfeld or the Pentagon in the chain of command?