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| Axis of Evil |
| NY Times: Iraq invasion will come in 2003 |
| 2002-04-28 |
| The Bush administration is plotting a potential major air campaign and ground invasion early next year to topple the Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions. The use of 70,000 to 250,000 troops is being considered, the Times said. President Bush has not issued any order for the Pentagon to mobilize its forces, and there is no official plan for an invasion, the newspaper said. There were probably 30 or 40 different accounts of how we were going to take Afghanistan, so enemy war planners could pick one with a pretty good certainty that it would be the wrong one. The number of different "war plans" leaked in the Gulf War was even higher, and none of them resembled what actually happened. So there. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 The movement will be telegraphed, but the eventual employment won't. It might even be funny, though I'd not count on it. Schwartzkopf smoked 'em so thoroughly with his "Hail Mary" that they'll be looking for something similar this time. Franks, assuming he's still in command then, may simply walk over their center while they've pulled the reserves over to cover their flank. Or he may build up troops, make horrible faces, bomb the crap out of them, and then the CIA can push their insiders in, say 45th Infantry Div, to smack Baghdad and hang Sammy while the Hammurabi Division's watching the show. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-04-28 20:31:27 |
| #1 Well, whatever happens, it will be telegraphed. No matter how (reasonably) small one thinks the ground force needs to be, it will involve Reserve callups, at least three, and more likely six, months in advance. That said, there's no particular reason not to launch a few waves of bombers anytime, if only to keep the Iraqis nervous. Me, I'm still guessing it'll be sometime after early November, but before the end of the year. |
| Posted by: Joel Rosenberg 2002-04-28 10:32:30 |