Round One, Tale Of The Tape

[HARDCORE]

0800, PST, 20 March 03

Naturally, France, Russia, Germany, China, and the Palestinians, are bitching up a storm over our opening salvo against Iraq! (So what else is new?) Turkey, on the other hand, has finally allowed us fly-over rights $$$$!!


While all of this caterwauling and cajoling is going on, the Kuwaitis are claiming that yet another rash of Iraqi surrenders are taking place along their border! And so far, at least as far can be determined, four missiles (scuds and/or al Samuds) have been fired upon Kuwait (ALL FOUR WERE SHOT DOWN)! ?For the record, Hussein still claims that he has no scuds or weapons of mass destruction?? (Yeah, sure!!)

?SO MUCH FOR THE PRELIMINARIES!?

The war began last night with a ?Cruise Missile and F-17 (stealth) Bombardment? of a target of opportunity, reported to be the ?Big Boy (Hussein)? himself! Enough high explosives were dumped into this target to give half the Iraqi Army a terminal case of hemorrhoids! Whether anything (or anyone) was obliterated in our attack, is yet to be determined, or so says the media!

The target of this multi-lateral assault is, of course, Saddam and his die-hard inner circle! And shortly after Aziz was erroneously reported to have split or been snuffed-out, he appeared on international television to debunk this claim. He (Aziz) then went on to spew forth his standard fair of tripe and propaganda! (The Mouth That Roared)

Also, some puffed-up mannequin claiming to be Saddam Hussein (?) just appeared on TV, hours after the attack upon the bunker that he and his kin were reported to be shaked-up in? But was it really Hussein, or one of his multiple doubles? "Only time will tell!?"

As for the tube (TV) itself, nothing really new here to this point - just the standard barrage of experts (?), speculation and ?Phrenology?, in which the media attempts to tell the future by reading the bumps on Hussein?s skull!

Why am I so down on certain elements within the media you ask? Back during Gulf War I, some ?International News Organizations? were delving into forbidden territory! They were seeking out information on troop movements, battle plans, and even the bathroom habits of our soldiers in the field! They would then (promptly) air this data, on the other end of which, sat ?Sidewinder Saddam? in front of his television set, picking up everything that he could! "As a matter of fact, Secretary Rumsfeld also warned the media to choose their words wisely this time around!"

Naturally, Schwarzkopf (Gulf War I) was nobody?s fool, and he used this media feeding frenzy to our own advantage. He fed Hussein much misinformation, causing Saddam no end of grief throughout the short conflict. ?Turnabout, after all, is fair play!?

?Well, the media is at it again!? Last evening, during a press interview of a ?Seventh Cavalry Captain? (Recon?s Old Outfit), the reporter started to delve into areas where he had little business. The O-3 (Captain), however, was far too sharp for the ?Pulitzer Hunter?, and in the fashion of a seasoned politico, his answers were vague, uninformative, and meandering!

Hey, I am all for ?Freedom Of The Press?, but during a war, and when certain information is critical to battlefield success, then a line in the sand must be drawn! ?Loose Lips Sink Ships, and all that good stuff!? And also worthy of note is the fact that this war began, not at all like the ?First Gulf War?, and this (in itself), had to throw off ?Hussein?s Nineteenth Century Military Mentality!?

Well, it?s still early, and it was just reported that Iraqi forces are now lighting up some oil wells and engaging us in fire fights as we speak! But I do find it curious, however, that Iraq would burn up it?s oil resources considering the fact that the revenues from these (1500 plus) wells would be used to rebuild the nation after the conflict! ?As such, and in effect, Saddam continues to cut the throats of his own people!?

VERITAS

[sfc_darrel]

"Iraq responded to Thursday's attack by firing at least 10 missiles into northern Kuwait, two of which U.S. Patriot missiles intercepted."

By some accounts these were scuds, which U.N. resolutions forbid Iraq from having.

"Information minister" Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf gave this denial to Reuters: "I heard reports that we fired Scud missiles on Kuwait. I would like to tell you that we don't have Scud missiles and why they were fired, I don't know."