"The whole debate is about two issues," said an envoy whose country is one of the five permanent Security Council members. "One is Iraq. The other is U.S. power in the world. The second issue is the bigger part of the debate."
How is it possible that our so-called allies look at Saddam’s Iraq, and then us, and then decide that stopping us from destroying that criminal regime is the right choice? Heck, the ridiculous French thought the war in Congo around the Great Lakes region was all an American plot to replace French influence with our influence. Yeah, that’s a huge geopolitical prize. I guess I can’t rule out some fanciful French scenario where our occupation of Baghdad is the final piece in some elaborate plan that let’s us shout "Check mate! Hand over your smelly cheeses and continue to use ‘le internet’ and other English words! Or else!" Honestly, I though they already knew that proliferating McDonalds throughout France (under cover of the EuroDisney deception plan in the heart of Frogland) is our plan to destroy them. Ok, sure, Iraq is part of the plan to undermine French-speaking Quebec, but that’s another plan altogether. Seriously, we need to have a reckoning with our allies about what being an ally means. Seeing America as the bigger threat is an outrage. They’d better worry that we start to agree with them. They don’t want us as an enemy.
On the actual invasion, given that the Iraqis seem to have largely decided to keep ground troops out of the south, I wonder if our invasion timetable will be faster than I thought. Why wait to fill the vacuum in the south when we can gain valuable time in the march on Baghdad? I’d previously thought a week to ten days of air strikes would precede ground invasion. But since the Iraqis seem to have ceded everything but the core Sunni area, moving into Iraq as soon as the air strikes begin could also get them out of their Kuwaiti base areas that are likely already targeted for Iraq’s limited missile stocks. Getting our troops moving will make them less vulnerable to chemical strikes given Iraq’s very limited tactical intelligence capability. They may be limited to striking targets plotted before the war begins. I’m no expert on special forces methods, but I’d guess they will (if they have not already) recon areas in southern Iraq and prepare the area to receive large numbers of conventional forces. Thus, the air campaign and march to Baghdad may largely overlap. Oh, my Janes email news says the invasion starts just before or after Christmas.
On to Baghdad. Then Paris (just kidding).
Was down with a virus and quite busy with home life too. Strange feeling of guilt for not posting. Jeez, I need a twelve step program or something.
