- AMERICAN war planners believe that they have little more than 48 hours from the start of a ground war to kill President Saddam Hussein if they are to avoid a protracted conflict and a complicated peace.
The opening days of the war are planned as a massive air assault aimed at collapsing Saddam’s command structure, followed by a “rush for Baghdad” by ground forces. US special forces and CIA teams are already operating on the ground in Iraq. But if US forces cannot find Saddam or present credible evidence that he is dead, they will face stiffer resistance from the Iraqis. “If people think Saddam is still alive they will be frightened to come out and support us, even if he is powerless,” one US official said.
I’ve seen reports that the US will bombard Baghdad with 400 cruise missiles in a 24 hour period. Cowards and murderers.
Although the Iraqi people would elect their new president, occupying the interim post would probably make Mr Chalabi the clear favourite. Hamid Karzai, the interim president of Afghanistan, was subsequently confirmed as the country’s leader. Mr Chalabi has the firm backing of the Pentagon’s civilian leadership and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office but senior figures in the State Department have argued against him.
“One school of thought was that people in Iraq would resent someone from outside,” said the official. Mr Chalabi was educated at Seaford College in Sussex and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and took a PhD in maths at the University of Chicago.
State Department desk officers have described Mr Chalabi as corrupt, citing his 1992 conviction in absentia in Jordan for embezzlement and theft. Mr Chalabi, who has survived at least nine assassination attempts, says he was framed after his Petra Bank, the third largest in Jordan, collapsed.
The official, who said the debate over whether to go to war “is over”, stressed that Mr Chalabi would not be a puppet leader propped up by America and that free democratic elections would take place in Iraq as soon as practicable.
Yeahhhh, right.
He said the Iraqi opposition in exile would not be allowed to control decisions for all Iraqis. “While we are listening to what the Iraqis are telling us, the United States government will make its decisions based on what is in the national interest of the United States,” he added.
The officials denied that a desire to control Iraqi oil played any part in the U.S. motivation for an invasion, which they justify as the best way to rid the country of alleged chemical and biological weapons.
But Feith, once part of a pro-Israeli lobbying group that has been pressing for the overthrow of Saddam for years, said a U.S. occupation could benefit Israel and Middle East peace.
I’ve seen Feith on CSPAN. He’s a real ‘sucker of satan’s cock’ as Bill Hicks would say.