Ze'ev Schiff says that Colin Powell made a big mistake back in 1991
the Iraqi army was in a terrible state. Some of the Republican Guard divisions were trapped in Basra, between the rivers. It was easy to corral them in the pocket and then bomb them from the air. There was no need for a sweeping invasion of Iraq or for reaching Baghdad. A powerful air attack would have been enough, and two or three days of a massive air assault on Iraqi forces would have led to a genuine victory, since the Republican Guards were always Saddam's main power base. But Gen. Powell rejected that opportunity. Now those divisions comprise the main force that Saddam Hussein has concentrated near Baghdad to conduct the major battle against the Americans. Fate ironically is punishing Powell for his mistake - what he didn't want to do in 1991 he'll have to agree to do now, at a much higher price.
After Baghdad and Pyongyang, the single most serious threat to our national security is in Redmond
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Debra Saunders, the resident Woman of Clue on the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial page, interviews U.S. Ambassador to France Howard Leach.
by signaling that it would not authorize force, "All France did, in my opinion, is make military action more likely.""The United Nations will decide". Teehee. Chiraq is hoist, as they say, on his own petard. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 19, 2003 03:15 PMWhy is France doing this?
"The French have a history of protecting Iraq. Why, I don't know."
...
When this is over, will France have a part in reconstructing Iraq?
That, Leach said, the United Nations will decide. He added, "Would France like a role? Yes. Will they have a role? I don't know."
Well, of course, it wasn't really Colin Powell's decision, the military being under command of the Commander-in-Chief, the President. And there were larger forces involved. The UN objective of ridding Kuwait of Iraqi forces had been met. In addition there was strong sentiment from the major Arab states [Saudi Arabia] that coalition forces should not make it their goal to capture Baghdad or Saddam.
Part of the decision to avoid more casualities it seems was also based on the pictures of the destruction along the "highway of death". Which as described by my friend author Joe Galloway who was there, was more of a highway of dead Toyotas and Mercedes than it was of humans.
To bad the job couldn't have been finished then, none the less.
Posted by: Wallace on March 19, 2003 02:37 PM