2nd Battle for Baghdad starts pertty soon.

[Joe for Clark]

I looked. We moved two brigades there to fight.

Like that is going to make a difference - I'd laugh if I wasn't American.

Those bad guys don't even have to win - they just need to not lose. They know it.

Well - we have B*sh CIC - we sure aren't going to win.

I think it is like that now. Come on November - I have never prayed so much for the summer to end as now.

Joe

[QuestionAll...]

1. how soon is soon, do you think?

and what are your views with what is happening in Lebanon now - any connections?

[Joe for Clark]

2. I think it started end of July.

I don't think this military was proactive in deployments - putting it mildly.
Those shifts of 2 div was or should have been scary. I think this officer corps is seriously negligent. Not the people that fought and won WWII for sure.

The main thing about Israel is that it will make things more complicated for us.

I was of the strong opinion that this summer would be bad for us. I was corrected by my kid.

He is an NCO there now, after all those deployments - and he set me right.

He said, and I am sure he is right - the real problem starts when the tempratures start to fall.

Seems no one can really do much in 120 degee plus tempratures. Even in that hell hole - and that is just what it is.

He is in 3rd brigagde in Mosul. The guys that were there were sent to Baghdad - as was the 172nd.

I think also, the problems about Lebanon for us - they mostly have to do with giving those people a glue to unite against us - maybe a little more than that.

Anyway - I think the shit storm is starting. And I think our Army knows it is, too.

Love to be wrong.

Joe

[QuestionAll...]

3. thanks, Joe.

your posts scare the hell out of me, but I look forward to what you have to say.

Will be thinking about your son. I'm so very sorry... as a parent of a child that is enlistable/draftable age, I 'think' I can imagine what you're going through, but not really.
she went on a trip to Guatamala on her own for 2 months and that was enough to make me wild with worry - so I just can't imagine...

(I was going to give you a hug icon, but they are smiling and it's not appropriate, I think we need one with tears)

[Joe for Clark]

5. I am sorry if I scare - I don't want to.

Oh, you can imagine this. All parents can imagine it.

It is one of those things all parents can imagine.

My brother in law talked to me - about Troy. He said, they'd go on raids and capture guys - blow up their doors and those people would still be sleeping - Really unbelievable.

It was 119 degrees out here - oh, I can definately imagine it now.

I am saying, those boys expect big trouble when the tempratures start to cool - they just do.

And I think they are right.

Joe

[megatherium]

4. My impression is that the US is no longer the main event

in Iraq, that most of the violence is now sectarian violence, Iraqi on Iraqi. So when the temperatures fall, will the result be a sectarian conflagration, a civil war that forces the US to flee? Or will the violence be focused on US forces?

[Joe for Clark]

6. Man , it is a civil war and has been for more than a year.

Ask they guys coming back. I have been.

The problem is - we have a lot of guys there right now. Good boys.

And those people want to kill each other, and we are a convienient scapegoat to that end.

The problem is, when the tempratures do fall, when people come out of their respective holes - where do they focus??

It is like that now. That is why we are scrambling units there in Baghdad.

Joe