Winds of Change.NET: Winds of War 2003-04-04

April 4, 2003

Winds of War 2003-04-04

by Joe Katzman at April 4, 2003 5:20 PM

Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused. If you find something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". Welcome!

A couple of specials today: Zen Master Rumsfeld's beat poetry, and an answer to Martin Savidge's question that explains "Where They Get Men Like This."

TO IRAQ...

On the Battlefield

Trenht Telenko's "V Corps Lessons Learned" comes from front-line 3rd Infantry Division soldiers in Iraq - and contains an excellent set of tips for any soldiers heading into the theater. Today's must-read.

We've moved all of the basic military and Iraq reference materials into their own post. Presenting the Winds of Change.NET Essential War Briefing [Updated April 1, 2003].

Some important battlefield setbacks have occurred over the last 48 hours. Frontline Dispatch explains. (Hat Tip: Cold Fury)

Well, this really breaks down the barriers. Michael Kelly becomes 1st embedded journalist casualty. The former Atlantic Monthly editor and Washington Post columnist was a real talent, and I'll miss him. Here's his last post from the front. Rest in Peace.

Is Saddam dead? The Optimate thinks so. Diana Moon points at another source. Iffy, but then they're all iffy. My take: don't know, don't care until they surrender. But the pathetic Iraqi performance and failure to do simple things like blow up bridges, let alone use chemical weapons, is a point in Jay and Diana's favour. That Day 1 surprise strike may have been hugely consequential.

Airpower 101 - what air dominance means on the battlefield. See also: 6-Day War, 1967. (Hat Tip: Emperor Misha I)

Her's some really great news concerning the PFC Jessica Lynch POW rescue: a bona-fide Iraqi hero made it all possible; he even went back to spy on the hospital and draw maps. Get this: he's a lawyer. Give this man a medal - and give his family green cards.

Parapundit has put together some thoughts and research on how to deal with Baghdad. This how-to map should help. And this is how the Israelis do it: planned unpredictability.

Well, this is damned disturbing. Saddam's child army. Not content to emulate the SS, he has a Hitler Youth program as well. Quite a few of those ended up on the front lines in the dying days of WW2, and we might expect the same here. If not, expect an out of control violent crime problem after Baghdad falls.

UAV robot planes played a big role in the recent battles outside Baghdad, and will probably play a similar role as the allies enter the city.

Rand Simberg on "mini-sieges" like the one we're seeing around Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, etc.

Some die-hards still holding out in Najaf and Karbala. "War in the Houses of Ali" looks at the battle from a different perspective, giving some background on Ali and the sites in Karbala and Najaf venerated by Shia Muslims everywhere. From Saddam's strategy to history to battlefield reports.

A great map of Basra, incl. British positions. (Hat Tip: Acepilots.com) Gotta love the job those British snipers are doing!

Anything can happen, but the Iraqi regime now looks like it's coming apart faster than a stripper's costume. This cartoon pretty much sums it up.

The north is disintegrating.

Also up north, we're seeing the aftermath of Ansar-al-Islam's rule. (Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan) What is it with the al-Qaeda types that they invariably piss-off the locals, who seem to look on them as twisted cultural imperialists?

Beyond the Battlefield

Liberation!

Sigh - not if the U.S. State Department can help it. But there are a growing number of Arab intellectuals who believe that a meaningful and culturally appropriate Iraqi democracy is a real possibility. And this blog campaign believes it too (here's the code if you want to join).

Another liberation of sorts. Orianna Falacci reruns an interview with an Iraqi POW in 1991. Compelling and human. (Hat Tip: Vodkapundit)

Interrogation techniques: theirs, and ours. Read interrogator David Robinson's comments about torture. (Hat Tip: Command Post)

Meanwhile, the Iranians are planning terrorism and guerilla campaigns in Iraq.

Umm Qasr aid efforts not going well yet. C'mon, guys, this is a key spot if we're going to start shipping in stuff to help the rest of the country. Let's get it done! (Hat Tip: The Agonist)

The Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. Now international, with some links for Brits and Australians! Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated April 1, 2003]

Everything you need to know about the 4th Infantry division, now arriving in Kuwait, and how it's getting there.

AND BEYOND...

Quote of the day: "It seems the only Palestinians who know how to fight fair are from West Virginia" (PFC Lynch reference). Untrue, of course. The Texans are OK too.

via Emperor Misha, John Hawkins lucidly explains Conservative Thinking Behind the War on Terror. Leftie parody link offered as a bonus.

In contrast, read this from Amitai Etzioni, as he pushes some smug Euros to offer solutions instead of carping and smarm. Etzioni is the founder of the center-left communitarian movement, and a professor at GWU.

It's Reuters, so treat it with a truckload of salt, but this article notes that Afghanistan's new dawn is stalled in some important ways and worries for its future. No realistic solutions offered. Bueller? Anyone? (Hat Tip: The Agonist)

Ah, thanks Ray! A very good discussion of the limits to what we should do in Afghanistan - and Iraq, too.

Mike Hendrix does the Mellow-Harshing War Dance of Doom on the head of that fraud of false piety, Kofi Anan.

Airport scanners that show your Full Monty. Just another innovation from the Dept. of Honmeland security, currently in service at several U.S. airports.

"Toxic Terror Tick-Tock" looks at the issue of terrorists with biochemical weapons: the past, our present, and possible futures.

I try to close on a more humourous note if possible. Presenting, The U.S. Redneck Special Forces

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Tracked: April 4, 2003 7:48 PM

Building Democracy in Iraq from Caerdroia

Excerpt: The Winds of War today has a report that the CIA and top State Department officials are proferring a nationalist named Adnan Pachachi to head the interim Iraqi government that will be installed after the war ends. The article paints him in rather ugly ...

Tracked: April 4, 2003 7:48 PM

Building Democracy in Iraq from Caerdroia

Comments

#1 from mike van winkle at 8:29 pm on Apr 04, 2003

Apparently now he isn't, at least not for sure... Yahoo reports

#2 from Jill at 8:45 pm on Apr 04, 2003

You should clarify Diana's quote.

It's "It looks as if the only Palestinians who know how to fight FAIR are from West Virginia."

Hope that the process is already in place.