British Army wanted in town where bombing and murder are the norm

[bemildred]

British troops may end up in one of the most violent flashpoints in Iraq in an operation to help the United States forces poised for an assault on the rebel stronghold of Fallujah.

Soldiers from the Black Watch may be deployed to Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, an area that has seen militants carry out sustained attacks on US and Iraqi government forces, as well as the kidnap and murder of foreigners and Iraqis. The Americans claimed to have "pacified" the area in a major military operation after it passed into the hands of insurgents for months. But it remains highly volatile.

Iskandariyah and nearby Latifiyah are important strategically as a "feeder route" to Fallujah, and US commanders are said to want the British battalion to provide support ­ backfill, in military jargon ­ for US troops heading for Fallujah to reinforce the 1,200 troops already based there.

Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, will brief MPs today on proposals to deploy British troops to the dangerous American-held territory around Baghdad. But in a "holding statement" he will rule out sending forces into Baghdad or Fallujah and will insist any decision to move troops from the British area of operations in southern Iraq will be taken by commanders on the ground.

Independent.co.UK

[daleo]

1. This should guarantee even more bombing and murder

The poodle is wagging his tail for the chimp again, so death will follow.

[bemildred]

3. I thought it was interesting by way of contrast with the

"we are going to crush Fallujah for good" story line we are getting
from the Ministry of truth. When you take this and the contaminated
fuel convoy that mutinied and the Sanchez memo and so on you get a
much different picture of the situation West of Baghdad. It think
logistics are just driving them nuts now and putting severe limits on
what they can do, even with all that firepower.

[daleo]

4. Wanting the 600 odd Brits for relief seems a tad desperate

It does seem to imply there is not much of a reserve around. Perhaps Bush just wanted to show the world (and Britain) that he can make Blair dance anytime he wants. If Bush is losing, he may be lashing out to humiliate whomever he can. I am waiting for the move "Black Watch Down".

[bemildred]

5. 400 Welsh troops coming from germany too.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=14766382&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=welsh-troops-face-fallujah-backlash-name_page.html

[daleo]

6. Among other things, we will hear how Bush can get international help

Bush and the Republicans will make a big deal of this, claiming this proves the world is truly behind their plans, and they can get international cooperation. They will gloss over the fact that help from the Poodle doesn't really count.

[SoCalDem]

2. Dere Toni,

Kud I plees borry sum of yur solders until after the lection? Their are to many murkan solders getting ded these daze, so if you kud take tha heet of me for a few wekes, I wuld reely apprecyate it.Hour papers dont report brits getting kiled, so it wuld mak the war look gooder heer in the us.

Thanks,

you're one trew freind.....GeorgeW



ps..Poppy sez that you wil get extry monney, when you retired from being president of englund, and go wo werk for the carly bunch...but only if you helps me nowe.

[lynx rufus]

7. That probably actually happened

just thinking about this shit makes me tired

[Matilda]

8. Is Blair trying to commit political suicide?

Hot on the heels of the Bigley execution, he wants to put British
troops into the hottest of hot spots.

The British are not happy, Tony, as this demonstration showed:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1017-04.htm

I have to confess, I just don't understand where Blair is coming
from.

[The Magistrate]

9. This Fellow Hoon, Mr. Mildred, Is A True Ultra-Maroon

He will not send Scottish soldiers to Baghdad or Fallujah: he will put them on the supply line between the two places, where guerrilla attacks can be expected in great force should the touted "offensive" actually materialize....

Your point concerning the lack of a U.S. reserve is well taken. Nor does it seem likely to me that the mutiny among the reservists will prove an isolated incident.

Refusal of soldiers to obey is what commonly ends wars....

"How is a staff officer like a piece of fine porcelain? Both are decorated before going into fire."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[bemildred]

10. We will see Sir.

It is hard to form a firm opinion with all the bullpoop being thrown
around on all sides. My guess at present is that they will never get
an adequate ground force together, and if they do they will not be able
to keep it in combat long. So it will be bomb, bomb, bomb until they
decide enough jet fuel has been wasted. The present goal seems to be
to make enough noise to slide through the election. At that point I
would expect that all bets are off, whomever gets elected, an attempt
to deal with reality (however conceived) will be attempted, but given
the general stupidity of the public dialog, it's hard to guess in
what direction that might go.

If they get through the election, I will have lost my bet with myself
that they would not, but that's the breaks.

You are correct, of course about Mr. Hoon.

[The Magistrate]

12. You Are Probably Right, Sir

Much thunder, much lightening: no rain. The enemy in occupation of the White House, imagining they will win the election, will be laying on a bombardment and some demonstration approaches, that they expect to peter away about the third of November. When they lose, however, there will be powerful drives for Gotterdammerung unleashed in their councils, with a season still to execute them, and there will then be, quite literally, Hell to pay....

"Kill them all! God will know His own!"

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[bemildred]

13. Hell to pay, and devil take the hindmost. nt

[sofa king]

11. The Brits are pretty good--but are there enough of them?

The Black Watch regiment is the best of the best, arguably better than any American unit when it comes to occupation and pacification, thanks to their long experience in Northern Ireland and the Balkans. You don't hear much about Basra these days, which makes it practically the only part of the country which is both occupied and relatively safe.

But moving the Scots out of Basra threatens to weaken even this relatively peaceful zone of control. And, the Black Watch may find itself left hung out to dry by having to mesh with American command styles and tactics.

I really hope those guys continue to do the job they're doing so well. Whether you support the war or not, those guys are doing the best job of saving lives by keeping the peace.

[AP]

14. That might be the US's goal. Maybe they want chaos everywhere and don't

like the calm in Basra.

Just guessing.

[JoFerret]

22. Not arguably

...they ARE (better).

[sandnsea]

15. Iskandariyah and Latifiyah

Where bombing and murder are the norm? I haven't even heard of these towns. How many other towns are there that are totally out of control that we haven't been told about?

[The Magistrate]

16. Just About All Of Them, Ma'am

U.S. and other occupying forces control no more than they can directly see from their garrison posts, or pass by on their patrols. There is no real national Iraqi police or army. Authority in the various towns is an uneasy mix of tribal and Islamicist militias weilded by sheiks and clerics. People really do not understand what the situation is; not unnaturally, they fill in the blanks of news reports with the state of civil authority and peace they are accustomed to in their own experience.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[sandnsea]

18. Certainly, but

There's a difference between an area not being controlled by the US and a city having regular murders and bombings. Wouldn't you say? I mean, you would hope a city or two would have managed to pull itself together on its own. Apparently all areas have regular murders and bombings, even cities we've never even heard of. Good lord.

[The Magistrate]

19. Those Things Are Pretty Regular, Ma'am

Where there is no routinely recognized civil authority in place, and the populace is rife with old grudges, and half its young men have no steady employment.

Some of this is part of the places pulling themselves together, as you say, though not necessarily in a way it is easy to approve of. Liquor stores, cinemas, etc., are bombed or burnt by Islamicist militias seeking moral reformation; persons who collaborate with the occupying authority, and their relatives, are killed; Arabs who moved into Kurdish or Turkoman areas to take over properties expropriated by the former government are killed and menaced by those who were then dispossed; old Ba'athists are hunted like dogs; gangs of protection racketeers and smugglers skirmish over the borders of their territories, and from the successful among them will emerge the next cohort of police and civic leaders....

"Anarchy would be fine with me if I could be the Grand Anarch."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Aidoneus]

20. The article doesn't mention exactly this...

but I believe the two states, "regular murders & bombings" and "not being controlled by the US", are related:--that is, the former are theoretically intended as a way of trascending the latter. So then, the British cannon fodder are being asked to contribute to the addition of those regular murders and bombings so as to "democratize" the currently-free villages. It is a fact, uncomfortable indeed, that the "enemy" held centers like al-Fallujah are in fact the most orderly and well run in the entire country, and to the contrary, areas under direct occupation are by and large the most unstable and corrupted.

Control of language is an important means of waging war, and always has been. There are many guilty parties, some by omission.

FYI: Iskandariyya & Latifiyya are south of Baghdad, on the occupyers' supply line about half-way towards Karbala`.

[Matilda]

17. I believe the U.S. controls only the Green Zone in Baghdad,

and even that is subject to attack.

[bemildred]

23. Given that these two towns are "pacified", that is interesting, is it not?

Soldiers from the Black Watch may be deployed to Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, an area that has seen militants mount sustained attacks on US and Iraqi government forces, as well as the kidnap and murder of foreigners and Iraqis. The Americans claim to have "pacified" the area in a military operation after it passed into the hands of insurgents for months. But it remains highly volatile.

[Stockholm]

21. To cynical for my taste...

Lowering the casualty rate just before the election!?

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d3e6dd18-2072-11d9-af19-00000e2511c8.html

[bemildred]

24. I think they are just trying to scrape together enough troops

to "take" Fallujah before the election. I don't believe they give
a rip about the casualties. But it is nice they are not getting
away with this.