Iraq: February 14, 2002

Archives

Maybe it's just some kind of Information War campaign, but an increasing number of "invading Iraq"  leaks are coming out of Washington. The latest batch has 200,000 US troops moving into Iraq from Kuwait. The campaign would be preceded by a lot of special operations action in the southern Shia areas. With the recent Afghanistan experience, the campaign would depend a lot on getting anti-Saddam Iraqis to take up arms. Many US special forces troops have spent over ten years training specifically for this sort of  operation. Current buzz has hostilities starting in May or June. Part of the reason for the delay is the time it is taking to rebuild stocks of smart bombs. Another source of delay is the opposition of the State Department and the rest of the world to the idea of an invasion. But many other American officials favor removing Saddam Hussein from power, no matter what it takes.