Standoff at Baghdad?

[faded glory]

Step 1) Surround baghdad for a week

Step 2) Drop leaflets and continue bombing

Step 3) Watch the iraqi soldiers come out by the thousands.


Thousands of civilians saved.

Its a no brainer. You all must be playin to much civ or something. Really abstract thinking. I was just waiting for someone to say "OOO!! Bush should use that spy 2 tiles away"

[MRT144]

probe team it to hell!

[CerberusIV]

Step 4) After Saddam is gone, reconstruct the country. After Afghanistan this presumably means bombing a few wedding parties because someone said they were really Ba'ath party rallies.

Step 5) ?

Step 6) How the hell do we get out of this? Why does everyone hate us?

[faded glory]

6) We wont need to rebuild Iraq. Iraq is a fairly wealthy nation and can rebuild itself with its oil wealth. All that is required is

a) Cancel all Saddam-era debts
b)Lift sanctions, get that oil circulating
c)Democracy

[orange]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I hate to say it but I almost hope Saddam does use his Chemical weapons once or twice since it will completely prove the case and make the anti-war protesters look like the stupid fools that they are.

no it doesn't

what it proves is that, if attacked, Saddam will use his B+C weapons. We already know that. Hence the protest.

[Jack the Bodiless]

Originally posted by faded glory
Step 1) Surround baghdad for a week

Step 2) Drop leaflets and continue bombing

Step 3) Watch the iraqi soldiers come out by the thousands.

Continue bombing with what? Leaflets?

Then take advantage of the US Army's familiarity with advanced bureaucracy to tackle the mound of paper. The Iraquis will run screaming from this unfamiliar threat.

Hmmm.

(Remember: no bombs to be dropped on civilian populations)

[Az]

what it proves is that, if attacked, Saddam will use his B+C weapons. We already know that. Hence the protest.

Orange, I guess you don't listen to the arguments of the opposers of the war. (like france )

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by lightblue
The Iraqi army will roll over and die. Surgical operations to take out command and control centres with the generals/colonels that have too much to lose, and the common soldier will just give up facing the far better equipped US army.

It never fails to amaze me that military and non-military 'thinkers' can spout these opinions despite the many military disasters throughout history (including very recent history) where commanders and troops have believed such drivel.

Many Iraqi troops may give up, many may not. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to realize that some Iraqi troops will perceive an attack on Baghdad as a direct threat to their families.

Surgical operations

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by faded glory
a) Cancel all Saddam-era debts
b)Lift sanctions, get that oil circulating
c)Democracy

a) the French and Russians will love that since much of the money is owed to them. (perhaps that is influencing their UN vote?)

b) do the contracts go to US companies?

c) at a recent conference there were 60 plus Iraqi opposition groups represented, most of whom hate each other only slightly less than they are against Saddam. That should make for some clear democratic decision making.

[CerberusIV]

Getting back a bit closer to the original question, there are two things that keep dictators in power. One is fear - basically that people who oppose them disappear. The other is that a lot of people don't find the alternatives attractive. I haven't noticed much effort going into saying what a post-Saddam Iraq will be like and why it will be better for most Iraqis. Until then many Iraqis may well regard a US invasion as just that, invasion by a foreign power, not liberation and that means they may well fight harder than the Pentagon analysts care to contemplate.

Edit: So back the the original question - if the US forces get to the gates of Baghdad and the Iraqis don't surrender, what then?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jack the Bodiless
It's not entirely clear whose post you're referring to, UR...

It's about the one that Saddam disappears.

[Jack the Bodiless]

I sorta guessed it might be...

[faded glory]

"Remember: no bombs to be dropped on civilian populations)"


Imo, we can do surgical strikes inflicting little civilian casualties.

"Surgical operations "

Hey, we can land those things in windows from the air. Ya there will be collarateral. But you know what, it wont warrant enough to stop the bombing. Unless, Saddam, say. Decides to use those human shields. Then its his own fault.


"
b) do the contracts go to US companies?"

No, your being mislead. the oil contracts are business deals (france and Russia w/Iraq). They will get those regardless. There etched in stone and have been for 60 years now. What im talking about is the debt. Remember the Iran-Iraq war? Iraq was 300 billion dollars in debt to Russia, France, and China in 1990. They spent all that to build that massive military that got wasted in kuwait. Hell that was why Saddam went to kuwait. He owed them 30 billion dollars and coulndt pay it. They cant be expected to pay all that back.


"a) the French and Russians will love that since much of the money is owed to them. (perhaps that is influencing their UN vote?)"

So that explains there strict anti-war stance, then, right?


"at a recent conference there were 60 plus Iraqi opposition groups represented, most of whom hate each other only slightly less than they are against Saddam. That should make for some clear democratic decision making."

Ya. So? Your looking at the bigger picture and going nuts. Im saying, cross the bridges as you get to them. First concentrate on overthrowing Saddam. Then worry about post-war Iraq.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Again there probably won't be a giant urban fight in Baghdad because you would need large numbers of soldiers who are willing to sacrific their lives just so a doomed Saddam can make a good show of it before he bows out.

You don't understand. A local TV station have sent reporters to Baghdad. The common Iraqis hate Dubya - they will fight him. They do not trust the US, not when they still want to have weddings in peace.

[faded glory]

Reporters are full of crap UR. They always say that. You always say that. Friggin Taliban were spouting the same trash.

Ya some iraqi's might fight. But its gonna be more of a turkey shoot.

Oh ya. I think its funny how all these spontanoues "Anti-American" rallies in baghdad by 'local people' seem to be carrying an awful lot of English signs. Seeing as how English is a little known language? You know...


Its a joke.