I think recent responses have been excellent, perhaps because some of us have been trying to engage our brains before we open fire.
Some comments
Frolic
I heard on the BBC "Today Programme" that the Marines themselves had reported coming under Iranian machine gun fire. The Iranians deny this. How serious this is I don't know, but if you are in the arc of fire from any machine gun, I would imagine you take it pretty damn seriously.
Tartarin quotes an interesting response from a reader of the NYT regarding WMD
Quote:What if no such weapons are found in Iraq? Will we do the right thing and pay for the reconstruction of that country, which our government had no legitimate right to attack in the first place?
Coalition forces will find evidence of WMD in Iraq, you can be sure of that. If there are none at present, they will be imported, possibly with the help of Donald Rumsfeld.
As Joe nation writes
Quote:So we have a mess of our own making to clean up, including the weapons of mass destruction which we were instrumental in providing to the Iraqis in the first place. Donald Rumsfeld made it possible for Saddam Hussein to aquire anthrax,
Asherman writes
Quote:I hope that fissionable materials and processing elements for chemical and biological agents have not be transfered to Saddam's regime.
Its absolutely vital that WMD are found in Iraq or this war is for nothing.
There have been comments about re ordering Iraq including border changes. Firstly we have made it abundantly clear that the territorial integrity of Iraq is sacrosanct.
As Kara points out Turkey will never tolerate an independent kurdistan. In fact Turkey is putting troops in to N Iraq to prevent this.
It seems to me that the objective will be to set up US save protectorates around the major cities and the oil fields, the rest of iraq can fight with itself to a standstill. Anarchy will prevail.
And I liked this quote from Dyslexia on anarchism
Quote:Each man's as good as the next--if not a damn sight better
JamesMorrison writes
Quote:It is a delicate balance and at some point in America's nation building she will have to let the emerging nation walk that path alone.
Agree with virtually all you say Jim, its just a pity that America's nation building efforts seem always to be preceded by America's nation destroying activities.
Timber writes
Quote:Casualties will increase dramatically, but will remain militarily insignificant
.
They may not be insignificant at home
on the chemical factory
Quote:... while The Chemical Factory, though fortified and camfolaged, apparently contained nothing, apart from a general officer and a security detachment, that in itself is interesting
Why is an abandoned chemical works interesting?
on pow treatment
Quote:Saddam may percieve advantage to be had through concessions in that area to the UN. He knows his only hope of survival is a negotiated ceasefire.
Would coalition forces settle for a negotiated ceasefire through the UN? I thought the idea was to kill Saddam. If he's going to remain in power, that sounds like a defeat for us.
Asherman wrote
Quote:Lacking military muscle, they (Europe) adopted appeasement as a strategy. Several, France most notibly, have made tidy profits supplying the Iraqi military with weapons.
How did we spineless weak appeasers in Europe manage to have no arms but sell our arms to Saddam? This is just Frog bashing. If this war goes badly don't expect any sympathy from the Germans French Russians Chinese or anyone else.
