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| Iraq |
| Bremer Expected to Meet Soon at White House |
| 2003-11-11 |
| Iraq’s U.S. governor Paul Bremer has arrived in Washington and is expected to meet soon with top officials at the White House for what is likely to be a decision-making session, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. "When decisions need to be made, Bremer comes. Some decisions need to be made," the official told Reuters, saying he presumed the issues dealt with security and the political transition in Iraq. The official said there was no expectation Bremer would be leaving his post. But another U.S. official recently told Reuters there is growing friction between Bremer and Washington, particularly over Bremer’s resistance to accelerating the transfer of control from Americans to Iraqis. Bremer left Baghdad for Washington at short notice and canceled a meeting on Tuesday with visiting Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, the Polish delegation in Baghdad said. Speculation: Bremer has received an instruction that he doesn’t agree with, or he read Old Patriot’s suggestion yesterday and likes the idea... |
| Posted by:snellenr |
| #11 O.P. has the right idea. Then do the same to Tikrit. Its time we took off the gloves. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-11-11 10:23:24 PM |
| #10 Anon... using the Shi'a like that runs a real risk of reenacting what happened in Sabra & Shatila (substituing the Shi'a for the Phalangists). If we use proxies, we're responsible for keeping them under control. I'm not so sure we could... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-11-11 10:02:44 PM |
| #9 I think house to house searching may not be ideal. I think the preferred way to handle this is invite the Shia and Kurd militias and paramilitaries in to "police" their Sunni brethern. Pull out all the US troops, let the ethnic militias (you know, the ones Saddam brutually oppressed for so long) perform counter-insurgency ops for, oh, say, 30 days, then pull them out and reinsert the US troops. Wanna bet the previously troublesome Sunnis will welcome the US troops as liberators/saviors? I found this on strageypage (http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qndguide/default.asp?target=IRAQ.HTM) that hints we may be threatening something like this. As for the Marines, I don't think they are going to be any more aggressive than the 82nd Airborne. Paratroopers are not generally known for their gentle people skills. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-11-11 8:59:06 PM |
| #8 yes the marines will kick some ass - I believe the marines did not loose one solder in the 3-4 months they were ther after MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS. |
| Posted by: Dan 2003-11-11 7:14:03 PM |
| #7 I think you got it remote man. Time for the first house cleaning (Purge) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-11-11 7:10:09 PM |
| #6 Old Pat's got the right idea. What he described is a modified version of "Hama Rules". In 1980-1981 Syria's Assad was having his patience taxed by...you guessed it....Islamic Fundamentalists. The trouble makers were based in the town of Hama. Assad ordered his army to surround Hama. They shelled the town for several days, leveled it, then bulldozed the rubble.Very effective. Assad had few troubles thereafter because if the fundamentalists wanted to play hard ball with Assad he was going to play the game using "Hama Rules". |
| Posted by: Mark 2003-11-11 4:46:04 PM |
| #5 Based on Zayed posting at Healing Iraq today, I'm guessing that the IGC may be getting ready to feel some heat. Sounds like they are doing the standard third world elite thing called grab the money and screw governing. Bremer may have to do some house cleaning. I don't think he would be coming home to review military strategy. He is going to be told what to do on that score. No negotiation accepted. |
| Posted by: remote man 2003-11-11 3:58:00 PM |
| #4 Just a thought, but who makes a more 'hidden in plain sight' courier than the senior U.S. man on the scene? What if you have to get something to D.C. that's so 'hot', so electrifying, that it can't be trusted to get there by diplo courier or dumped on an AF ferry flight to Pope? Hmmm, wmd proof, Saddam's head in a bowling bag, something like that. Or maybe Bremer is getting stood tall for the 'slosions, who knows. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-11-11 3:42:53 PM |
| #3 I think Old Patriot might be somewhat close. My read is that the US is sending in the Marines to replace some of the Army units there. The Marines will be more agressive. They will probably do what they did in Somalia, corden off a random block and search the buildings and make sure they are clean. The Islamofascist response will be either (a) go to ground, bury the weapons and wait as they did in Somalia or (b) Fight and hope for the Mogadishu scenerio. Bremer needs to be prepared to provide political cover for either scenerio. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-11-11 3:20:53 PM |
| #2 heh heh - I think the IGC may be getting a message as well. I've noticed the rise in ordnance dropped and firepower brought to bear on the rebels. Fallujah and Tikrit need cause/effect lessons. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-11-11 2:45:16 PM |
| #1 Here's Old Patriot's comment! You go out one morning with 400 tanks and other armored vehicles. You surround Fallujah completely, with 6-7000 infantrymen backing up the tanks. You start a house-by-house search, making sure every human being and as many belongings as they can carry are taken out, marched beyond the perimeter, and made to kneel in the sand. Then you totally destroy their city. Bomb it into dust, and then blow away the dust. MAKE THEM WATCH. Then have one person walk out to them and tell them, "next time, we'll do it with you still there". You may still have problems, but they won't be from Fallujah. Posted by: Old Patriot [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-10 11:09:36 PM |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2003-11-11 2:01:07 PM |