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March 29, 2003
Pentagon Briefing On CNN Now
Update: The Pentagon is showing a video testimonial of an Iraqi woman speaking about the brutality of the Hussein regime. Update: They are now showing a very graphic clip from a British documentary about the gassing of Kurds at Halabja. Update: The general argument these clips support is that the Pentagon is surprised that others are surprised at the regime's brutality. Update: Two US soldiers killed in firefight in Afghanistan today. Update: 1,000 sorties over Iraq yesterday; Pentagon showing video of F-18s and F-15s in action. Q&A Summary: The Sec. Defense has not signed a new deployment order for Iraq in two weeks ... the current flow of forces has been planned since then, and is not in response to how the campaign has progressed; it is according to the plan, which they describe as "scalable." An exception is the use of the 4th ID, which was planned but from Turkey and not Kuwait. The plan is to have a flow of forces that can be "turned off," and "they are all turned on until they are turned off." US does not claim air supremacy over Baghdad because a number of Iraqi targeting radars in the city have not yet been used, and as a result, have not yet been destroyed. In effect, however, the US flies with little difficulty over Baghdad daily. It's the US Army Rangers that are "denying" the Hussein regime use of the West, including it's airfields. They are doing so with limited numbers of troops, lots of airpower, and "very economically." No additional info re: whether the unmarked shells found by the Brits near Basra have a WMD link. Pentagon now counts the global coalition at 49 countries. Question about some troops being down to 1 MRE a day: Pentagon says there is not a resupply problem, but if any troop has less then they need, that's an issue. There may be individual incidents, but resupply is working very well at the macro level. Again, "there is no indication of any widespread problem." Question about troops buried in shallow graves (see CP post below): Pentagon is trying to determine identity. Cannot say if they evidence war crimes. Re: Republican Guard divisions -- Pentagon is seeing "survivability" moves, not large redeployments. Survivability moves are tactical moves by the RG in an attempt to avoid coalition airpower. 40 Apaches attacked the RG Medina division last night deep in Iraq, and Pentagon is working on damage assessment. Question: What is value of "racing" North and then sitting outside of Baghdad for several days. Pentagon says "racing" is a characterization of the media, not the military. Intent is to press the fight when the correct conditions have been met, and this is the case re: the Rep. Guard (implication is that they are continuing to prep the battlefield re: the RG). Posted By Alan at March 29, 2003 01:02 PM | TrackBackComments
Using CNN's own video. How will the mainstream media discredit that? Posted by: McGruff at March 29, 2003 01:12 PMOne MRE? That's about 1400 calories. Probably a damn sight more than the average Iraqi was getting a couple of weeks back.... J. In Re the "racing" question: Getting our forces that close, that fast, restricts the options open to the Iraqi military. We've "pinned" them against Baghdad. Posted by: Robert Crawford at March 29, 2003 01:34 PMJlawson: 1400 calories is not enough if you are participating in active combat operations. Posted by: Tarmo Saranen at March 29, 2003 02:26 PMwhen is the Pentagon gonna get it and start using hot women to host these briefings, even with her new outfit and hairstyle Victoria really doesn't cut it. Posted by: angrYkook at March 29, 2003 02:35 PMMREs have only 1400 calories? Jeez, they used to have closer to 3000 calories. What is this, the new "lean, mean fighting machine", or are they just hungry & pissed? Posted by: TacJammer at March 29, 2003 02:35 PMMREs have 4000 calories according to TechTV who did a profile on them a month ago. They said some complained there were too many calories, but they said they were made for young men on the field. If you needed less, don't eat it all. Posted by: BobbyV at March 29, 2003 05:15 PMHere's a story saying MREs have 4000 calories MREs: 4,000 calories A DAY, which means each MRE packet is a third of that, or 1,300 calories. As for "racing" to Baghdad, then sitting around: By moving into striking distance of the capital, the 3rd ID has effectively fixed the RG divisions in place. They can not deploy to the West, east, or North without leaving Baghdad uncovered. This means our other units will basically have a free hand elsewhere, without having to face Iraqi heavy divisions. Seems like a good plan to me. Actually reminiscent of the Civil War, and how the Army of the Potomac was always constrained by having to cover Washington, except that the South didn't have the numerical advantage to really take advantage of the fact. Posted by: Dave at March 29, 2003 06:02 PMThe phrase "Full Court Press" comes to mind. Posted by: Alan E Brain at March 29, 2003 07:49 PMPost a comment
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