Latest Stratfor analysis re Iraq

Defense Policy Board: Conflicts of Interest?

March 29, 2003 - 1441 GMT
At least eight members of the 30-person Defense Policy Board -- an unpaid panel that advises U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- work for numerous companies that do business with the Pentagon. Sources indicate that these board members have ties to companies that received more than $72 billion in defense contracts in 2001 and 2002.
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Allied Forces Call For Temporary Halt To Ground War
March 29, 2003 - 0704 GMT

Reports indicate that allied forces have called for a four- to six-day halt of the ground war in order to take care of logistical problems, which most likely will be shown as a weakness in allied forces. However, the most probable reason for the halt is for the forces in the south to get rested and resupplied, while the forces in the north and west are given time to mature. Also, the weather will be clear, which indicates that this is the time for the air campaign to step up its operations to take out command and control as well as Iraqi troop positions.
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Iraqi Shiite Opposition Opposes Coalition, Not Iraqi, Forces
March 29, 2003 - 0507 GMT

Comprising 60 percent of Iraq's population, Shiites will largely decide the fate of Iraqi resistance countrywide. So far they have been more on the side of Baghdad than of Washington. Some Shiites are fighting U.S. forces, and others have remained neutral. Changing this pattern will be difficult, but this is what the United States must do in order to crush resistance, both during and after the war.