Sunday, March 30, 2003

If My Country Were Invaded I would likely try and defend it - even though I have problems with it. I certainly wouldn't fight in the name of George W, Bush. But, I still would fight , if I could. Because, I am an American and this is my home. Why are we so surprised that expatriate Iraqis feel the same way? comment []  permalink  7:26:29 PM

Tommy Franks' Plan While a fireball burns in downtown Baghdad in the background, Gen. Richard Myers, joint chiefs chairman, spent many minutes with Wolf Blitzer, stating, restating, and reiterating that the strategy used in Iraq is all "Tommy Franks's plan." Is this to give credit where due or to begin to point blame on someone other than Rumsfeld and Bush given today's reports that Franks wanted to wait until there were more troops? comment []  permalink  12:19:19 PM

More CentCom Franks says, "our targets will remain the Iraqi regime and not the Iraqi people and we'll continue to provide humanitarian assistance... this campaign has made remarkable progress... the outcome has not been and will not be in question." During reporters' questions, Franks denies he requested additional tropps before the beginning of the war. he does not know whether Kuwait incident and yesterday's suicide bombing are related. "Not at all remarkable that a dying regime" would use suicide bombers, says Franks. "We see the regime claiming credit," for suicide bombings he says, tying such occurences to terrorism and thus America's war on terrorism. Franks suggests military will review how soldiers interact with Iraqis, and probably greater attention will be paid to stand off of vehicles. Says it shouldn't effect relationship with non-combatants. Franks, when questioned about tomorrow's New Yorker, says he doesn't agree with the assertion and says very few people know the truth about how the war plan was put together and no one has driven the timing of the operation except the operational commander. He asks how many deployment orders had been issued over the past 11 days and says there are none, implying that the plan we see is the plan we've been on. Says the "best plan assures ultimate success and permits the chance of early success." Interesting comment about timing and early maneuvers by troops, implying that we didn't really plan to win right away, but perhaps hoped to. He sees no recent credible evidence that Saddam is in control. comment []  permalink  7:34:51 AM

Gen. Franks CentCom Briefing An exhausted looking Franks reading from a prepared statement says, we are "one day closer to liberating Iraq... [and] everyday we erode the regime's grip over the Iraqi people." He says that coalition forces have destroyed massive terrorist facility in Iraq in last 48 hours. Coalition forces and special ops in northern Iraq represent a "serious" northern threat to regime forces. "The regime is in trouble and they know it," he says. Iraqi civilians come forward each day to join up with Free Iraqi forces. "This military campaign will be like no other before." CNN lost voice transmission. comment []  permalink  7:19:08 AM

Kuwait Civilian Truck Attacks Soldiers in Kuwait An attacker drove a truck into a group of soldiers lined up outside a military "PX" shop at a U.S. base in Kuwait (article). Clearly giving more credence to Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan's threat: "One day, we will see that one martyr operation will kill 5,000 instead of the 500 you kill with your bombs." Fifteen injured according to CNN. comment []  permalink  7:01:14 AM

Too Few Troops A BBC article gives a preview of a piece to be published in tomorrow's New Yorker magazine. It's not pretty. Claiming that Secretary Rumsfeld reduced the number of troops military specialists said they needed to win - in an effort to save money - the article says Rumsfeld "wanted a cheap war" and commenced the fighting over General Franks' advice to wait for more troops. A former intelligence official is quoted as saying, "The only hope is that [the troops there now] can hold out until reinforcements arrive." comment []  permalink  5:25:07 AM

© Copyright 2003 Jennifer Hicks. Last update: 3/31/03; 7:06:20 AM.

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