All roads to Baghdad close

[shockingelk]

The US led coalition in Iraq has announced the closure of all major highways into and out of Baghdad.

Coalition spokesmen have denied the closure has anything to do with threats by insurgents.

The statement said highways one and eight to the north and south of Baghdad had become targets for anti-coalition forces and were damaged and too dangerous to travel. They would be closed indefinitely.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1089596.htm

WP says only "parts" of two major highways close:

BAGHDAD, April 17 -- The U.S. military abruptly closed parts of two major highways running north and south from the Iraqi capital early Saturday, attributing the shutdown to a spate of attacks and bombings by insurgents along the roads

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20692-2004Apr17.html

[The Traveler]

1. So they're sealing off Baghdad

Makes ya wonder what's about to go down in that city.

[freetobegay]

2. Democracy!

Haven't you heard?

End sarcasm

[The Traveler]

4. Oh, of course! What an idiot I am.

Democracy in action. Lock 'em down and make them vote, and make sure they vote right.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. A nuke would be more believeable.

Really.


http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[Journeyman]

6. I don't believe closed roads would be necessary. . .

if they intended to nuke the city.

[Cronus Protagonist]

7. Keep them all inside the exposure range

Containment. And not to let anyone else in before the bomb goes off.

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[BostonTeaParty04]

3. Tony told his MPs to expect amplified fierce fighting

in the coming weeks.

I have a feeling that the US is going to start blowing everything and everyone to smitherenes in unison.

They don't even FEIGN that they want to work out a peaceful solution.

[Iceburg]

11. "They" would be the the Iraqi resistance.

[daleo]

8. I think sealing off Baghdad has more to do with keeping things

from the outside getting in, than the inside getting out. I think Bremer is concerned about his own safety.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. That's exactly what I'm thinking, too.

[Aidoneus]

9. they seem to be taking the warnings seriously

This week is supposed to see al-Fallujah & Ramadi mujahids take the fight to the invaders in Baghdad as well.

The US military/occupation officials would also announce the closure of the highway running west from Baghdad, but it's not like that's under their control anyway.

[liarliartieonfire]

10. When Bremer is secretly flown out of the country ,

in the middle of the night, will evacuation of our troops be next? OR will the WH continue to ask them to "stay the course"?

"...we're all gonna be dead."
George Bush, when asked about how history will see this era.

[teryang]

12. More "progress" in Iraq

The lines of communication are being challenged by the insurgents, essentially threatening to reverse the outcome of the prior invasion.

One begins to understand, for better or for worse, the limits of the American "strategic" position in Iraq. What's next, the Berlin airlift? Our negotiations in Fallujah and Najaf are necessary for several reasons.

[BeFree]

14. Not just lines of communication

But the very highways supplies move on.
The 'insurgents' can no longer be given free access to these roads because they place bombs at their convenience,just about anywhere they please.

It is an out and out pronouncement by the military that it is having to take serious steps to protect it's supply lines. Without open supply lines, forward troops are sitting ducks.

It doesn't look good. One year after the invasion, the military is going backward.

[teryang]

15. Sorry about the terminology

In military parlance lines of communication means the ways of of commerce.

In includes airways, sealanes, port facilities, airports, roads, bridges, chokepoints, etc.

I was referring to ground lines of communication meaning roads. Sorry for the jargon.

[reprobate]

19. It's an out and out pronouncement that we are losing!

I wonder how many 747 flights it would take to pull our troops out?

And subtract one flight for leaving Bremmer and his staff there.

[UpInArms]

13. perhaps this explains the Baghdad lockdown

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040418/topstories/30113.shtml

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces fighting alongside Marines in Fallujah are angry, saying they're outgunned by Sunni insurgents and resent being sent to fight fellow Iraqis.

"Eighty percent of us want to leave and go to Baghdad" because they don't want to fight civilians in Fallujah, said Amar Hussein, a medic in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

The 36th ICDC Battalion was supposed to be the elite of the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces, with members drawn from the militias run by various members of the Governing Council in order to fight insurgents who have been attacking U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies for months.

Now it finds itself involved in the bloody battle of Fallujah, where Marine forces have been fighting insurgents in the city, but where many civilians are also believed to have been killed. Mosques have been targeted by both sides, buildings in residential areas destroyed, soccer fields turned into makeshift graveyards.

...more...

[jmcgowanjm]

16. The US needs oil/food. As do 5 millon Baghdad citizens

Patrick Cockburn stated that Baghdad citizens look south
to the Duara power plant to see how things are.

4 stacks of smoke. Good electricity.
2-3 stacks of smoke. Spotty.
0 stacks of smoke. What Cockburn reported
a week ago.

[bemildred]

17. Saying "we are closing the roads" is better than

saying "our supply lines are being cut", avoids panic in the
sheep. Expect an airlift effort, although that has issues too,
getting into Baghdad airport is no picnic, and that will not help
with the POL supply issues. I expect there is an element of keeping
bad things out too, which tells you a good deal about the extent of
central authority in the rest of Iraq. We have little pockets of
authority in a sea of rebellion.