licentious radio

Wednesday, March 26, 2003
[7:53:55 PM]

Do you understand the significance of these Fedayeen?

They get a cap, not a uniform. They ride around in SUVs with a mounted machine gun.

They attack American tanks in the open. It's suicide. Americans blow them away without blinking. One American tank couldn't be bothered to fire its gun -- it just drove straight over the SUV.

BUT... it's a different story fighting in a city.

And it's only one small step from suicidal attacks to suicide bombing.

Imagine what it will be like for our soldiers when any car that drives by could be a suicide bomber with enough explosives to take out a building.

Are American soldiers prepared to be cruel enough to win that kind of war?

[5:54:50 PM]
They appear to be hiding the news.

Miami Herald: "Concerns about security near Nassiriyah remained high. Even public affairs officers assigned to assist reporters who have been traveling with the units at the airfield were issued weapons and given guard duty along a sand berm that is still being built to protect the base. Reporters traveling with troops all along the 155-mile supply route that stretches from Nassiriyah to north of Najaf reported tension. At one forward position, soldiers asked a reporter to carry a pistol to help protect the perimeter.

"There were also reports of logistical difficulties throughout the American lines. One Army element north of Najaf had not received fuel in two days."

[5:49:38 PM]
New York Times: General Brooks declined to comment on the number of United States casualties in the war and explicitly said the military would not provide numbers. "As a matter of practice, we just aren't going to announce numbers of casualties," he said.

[5:14:17 PM]
"At one forward position, soldiers asked a reporter to carry a pistol to help protect the perimeter."

This is crazy. This is stupid. Rumsfeld's ass should be *so* fired.

[11:33:53 AM]
Actually, there were a couple of scary stories last night.

Somebody leaked word that some of our dead maintenance people might have been *executed*, rather than dying in combat. Shades of bayoneting babies! Fortunately, this story seems to have disappeared.

And then there's the big chemical weapons war-hoop. They say marines found a bunch of chemical weapons suits in storage. Ahem. *Not* in use.

After days of twenty dead Americans per day, we might need some distraction, what?

Let's be clear: US and British lose part of their advantage when they are fighting in chemical weapons gear. It's to the Iraqi's advantage to leave hints that they might use chemical weapons.

But if Saddam wants to keep power, he will depend on pressure on the United States from other countries. Using chemical weapons at this stage of the war would be a disaster for Saddam.

The scary thing is that a ground assault on Baghdad would be the end of any deterrence. If Iraq has any chemical weapons of any use, they're likely to come out once the US troops occupy parts of central Baghdad.

[10:18:36 AM]
Wouldn't it be interesting if some pro-war Democrat in Congress would introduce a bill to declare war on Iraq?

I say if we're going to lay waste to a country, we should at least declare war on it. How could kooks like DeLay vote against a declaration of war? The Orwellian nuts who renamed French Fries -- how could they vote against declaring war?

Seems to me, if Congress declares war, we're a little closer to following the Constitution.

(Not that I think this is a good idea -- just interesting to think about.)

[10:08:45 AM]
The interesting news story of the day yesterday was the elimination of news. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, you could tell what was happening in the Iraq war (approximately) by reading news on websites around the world. The various embedded reporters might tow the line overall, but they would let slip little details. One interviewed a medic who said the actual casualties were much higher than what the officers were saying. Another interviewed a British Marine who was shocked by the American Marine's inability to take a warehouse.

Most of that kind of reporting went away on Tuesday. We heard about sand. We heard about rebellion in Basra. We heard about an attack at Najaf with lots of dead Iraqis -- no mention of whether it was an attack in a sandstorm, or of American casualties. We heard that the Marines made it through Nasiriya, but it was unclear what was happening there after the Marines headed for Baghdad.

True to form, the Bush people are cooking the books on American casualties. Casualties are news. They are our people. We deserve to know. But an accurate accounting of the dead and wounded could lead to questions. So they obfuscate, and make sure they don't have the total figures.