Is the capture of Baghdad what it appears to be?

[sweet_gal]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steveseymour/subliminalsuggestion/custer.html

 

Copyright Joe Vialls, 10 April 2003 and 11 April 2003, scroll down to red update

 

Gates of Baghdad CIA 'False Flag' in Kuwait Basra Children Vialls Home

If you would like to help keep this ailing web site on the Internet, you may do so By clicking on the PayPal link below and donating whatever you can reasonably afford. No sum is too small, and your assistance will be greatly appreciated

 

Desperate to win public approval for his illegal invasion of Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld has been “padding” his Pentagon briefings just a little bit. Well, not just a little bit – Rumsfeld could reasonably be accused of ridiculous exaggeration bordering on pure fantasy, but that would let the cat right out of the bag.

As the 7th Cavalry of Little Bighorn fame rode into Baghdad aboard their dashing depleted-uranium-armored steeds, everybody was caught up in the excitement of the moment. Soldiers smiled at the media cameras and waved “Hi” to their Moms in America, while dirt-poor Iraqis from Saddam City in the east predictably looted everything in sight. Then just to add a bit of spice, a spooked US Marine shot an elderly Iraqi man dead in his decrepit old car, in front of France 3’s cameras, for failing to stop at a traffic light when ordered to do so by an uninvited invader.

The American media spin surrounding the "capture" of Baghdad was so intense that most viewers were overwhelmed. Many were suspicious of such an unexpected and rapid victory, but felt unable to challenge the event because of a lack of military knowledge. Most knew that for three whole days they hadn’t seen a single video frame from any one of the 500-plus journalists “embedded” with the US military, but once again had no way of knowing exactly what this sudden draconian Pentagon censorship actually meant.

Basically the whole “capture” of Baghdad was and remains a contrived public relations scam. As the map below shows very well, the 7th Cavalry drove into the center of the city from the south-west on arterial roads which had mysteriously not been blockaded, then drove over river bridges which equally mysteriously had not been demolished in advance. Does anyone really believe the Iraqi military could not have carried out these simple tasks in advance if they had wanted to?

The US Marines did exactly the same thing from the east, driving over undamaged river bridges and along clear arterial roads until they also reached the center of the city. The whole thing looked very easy, and indeed was way too easy for any military man’s peace of mind.

 

With a population of five million, Baghdad is bigger than Chicago, and approximately the same size as Paris, with the two narrow road routes taken by the 7th Cavalry and the US Marines comprising less than one-percent of the City's total land area. Everything else you see on the map above is virgin territory untouched by cavalryman or marine alike, who have absolutely no idea what might be lurking in these truly vast areas.

One clue lies with the deadly American A10 “Tankbuster” that twisted and turned overhead Baghdad the other day, popping magnesium flares all over the place while spraying a ministry building with a hail of DU shells. This diversionary action neatly drew attention away from two 7th Cavalry M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, which quite deliberately shelled members of the media at Al Jazeera headquarters, and in the Palestine Hotel.

Then the very aggressive though luckless A10 turned away to the southwest, where it was promptly blown out of the sky by a large Iraqi surface-to-air missile fired from the area of the University – just one of those dull gray suburb areas shown on the map above.

Viewing the Baghdad suburbs as a whole, there are probably a million houses which might [or might not] contain Republican Guards or regular soldiers, but the US military simply does not know whether or not this is the case. In order to find out, they must now go through the dreaded routine of house-to-house searches, which might or might not result in the [traditional] loss of about 60% of their soldiers.

Do not be fooled by the contrived media razzmatazz. The “Coalition of the Willing” has not taken Baghdad yet, and quite possibly may never do so, because America in particular is woefully short of men for the task. Forget all of the “Disney World” high-tech American weapons, which are useless in street or CQB [close quarters battle] scenarios. To have any chance of winning a "house to house" war, you must have a minimum superiority of five belligerent troops for every suspected defender, and more if possible. At the present time, the total number of "combat able" coalition troops in Iraq and Kuwait is less than 110,000.

So how many Iraqis are left for these folk to fight? Put another way, now is the time to calculate the size of the mysterious “missing” Republican Guards divisions and the regular Iraqi Army. No need to take my word for the numbers here. In response to a direct media question at his briefing today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Myers admitted that the coalition still faces, “Ten divisions of the Iraqi Regular Army, and a Brigade of the Republican Guard.” In addition, Russian Military Intelligence assures us there are between 90,000 and 110,000 Iraqi troops behind the forward lines, i.e. between US forces in Baghdad and their home base in Kuwait.

Decoded, this means that General Myers knows and admits there are more than 200,000 Iraqi soldiers out there in front, Plus of course the 100,000 extra regulasrs and home guards behind the front lines, for a gross total of more than 300,000 active service Iraqi soldiers.

Because we know from military records that there were never ten divisions of regulars to the north of Baghdad in the first place, General Myers has in actuality admitted that five of the “missing” Republican Guards divisions have survived, in addition to five-plus divisions of Regular Iraqi Army. Exactly how this massive quantity of troops is deployed, in, around, or to the north, south, east and west of Baghdad, Myers simply has no idea.

Despite his knowledge [of massive Iraqi opposition in general], Myers still ordered the 7th Cavalry and the US Marines to roar through to the center of Baghdad, in order to provide an increasingly desperate and unpopular Donald Rumsfeld with a public relations “victory” to boast about, and to wave in the face of Russia, France and Germany. None of these powers will believe it of course, but Rumsfeld might, for a few months at least, manage to keep his own job at the Pentagon.

Being sent into impossible situations is not new for the 7th Cavalry. The regiment has “been there, done that” before, when commanded by General George Armstrong Custer. In 1875, the American Government decided that all Indians on the Western Plains would have to settle on assigned reservations by January 31, 1876, in order to make way for immigrant gold miners.

Failing to comply meant that violating Indians would be considered hostile, and the US Army would take action against them. So in a surprising parallel with Iraq today, the American invaders were determined to loot the Indian lands of natural resources.

On 25 June 1876 Custer discovered one of the largest Indian camps the Plains had ever seen, at Little Bighorn, about 7,000 in number and made up primarily of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. Worried that the Indians might escape, Custer split his 7th Cavalry troops into three columns to encircle them.

Custer led roughly 210 men toward the camp, counting on his two other columns to encircle the Indian warriors and protect him. Instead, he found himself surrounded by well-armed Indians led by Crazy Horse, on top of what is nowadays called Custer Hill. Most people know the rest. Every one of his 210 men was killed, and he himself was finally discovered two days later, stripped naked and shot in the left temple and chest. Custer’s defeat rattled the entire nation.

 

Richard White, professor of history at Stanford University set the tone, "It's 1876, the 100th anniversary of the battle for independence. It's hugely symbolic and a major shock," he said, "It's impossible for Americans to imagine a warrior culture defeating a modern army."

If this brings to mind the possibility of Americans being unable to imagine a warrior Iraqi culture eventually defeating the Disney World hi-tech US Military, this will not be surprising. The problem is that this end result is quite possible, though not it you believe the impossible spin being put on events by a bunch of very desperate men in Washington, DC., who deliberately stood the 7th Cavalry and US Marines into clear and present danger to cover their own pitiful inadequacies.

In the days and weeks to come you will find a subtle change come over Baghdad and its surrounding towns and countryside. Gone will be the looting and exuberance, to be replaced by paranoia and real fear of the American invaders. Windows will be bricked up, and people will stay indoors not only to avoid looting by their own citizens, but also to avoid confrontation with armed mercenaries who have already demonstrated their willingness to shoot old men dead in rickety cars, for no real reason at all.

Then in all probability the Iraqi sniping will start again from the north, south, east and west, to be followed in turn by RPG attacks on the armored vehicles in downtown Baghdad. Whether or not members of the 7th Cavalry will be able to escape this second trap in their regimental history, remains to be seen.

 

" All we wanted was peace and to be left alone..."

Chief Crazy Horse

Update 11 April

Coalition's chosen "replacement" leader slaughtered in Najaf

Abdel Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking Shi'ite cleric whose father had been a prominent ayatollah, returned home to Iraq last week from years of exile in London, preaching reconciliation as the country tries to rebuild. A staunch opponent of Saddam Hussein, al-Khoei was promptly stabbed to death by a mob in the holy shrine.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had met with al-Khoei several times both at Downing Street and at his London based foundation for exiled Iraqi Shi'ites, said he was appalled at al-Khoei's death and sent condolences to his family. "He was a religious leader who embodied hope and reconciliation and who was committed to building a better future for the people of Iraq," Blair said.

Evidently the Iraqis do not share the Bush-Blair "vision" of a "new post-Saddam reconstructed Iraq", and have demonstrated this in spectacular fashion. It is understood that the execution was conducted with traditional daggers, in a way that ensured al-Khoei died relatively slowly.

Remember here that al-Khoei was an exiled Shi'ite, the very same branch of Islam that the "Coalition of the Willing" was sure would "rise up against Saddam" but failed to do so. Imagine how gruesome the death will eventually be, for any puppet Sunni Muslims imported by Bush and Blair in the future.

Daggers perhaps, or maybe the women will be allowed to finish them off more slowly, as is their way. After all, these mothers, grandmothers and aunts have many dead and maimed children to avenge.Unsubstantiated rumor suggests that the women can keep a man alive for up to two weeks before finally allowing him to die. A charming vision for the traitors in London and New York to dwell on for a while.