[The Wizard]

**And for the record, GWB already has a smoking gun showing that the 9-11 attacks were assisted by Saddam with the Salman Pak training school, and this evidence will be used to justify using the Sept 14th resolution.....

[kjam22]

I don't think we'll hit Saddam anytime soon. I think he'll hit us again before we hit him.

[Reborn]

HERE IS MORE:

Journalists flocking to Baghdad a bad omen

From the International Desk
Published 9/26/2002 1:09 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Foreign journalists have begun to flock to Baghdad, a bad omen for Iraqis who see it as a sign that war is coming while the government sees it as an opportunity to put across its side of the story.

For many Iraqis, the influx of news media-types is reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War that drew a horde of newsmen to the Iraqi capital.

But Iraqi authorities have seized the opportunity to take visiting journalists on tours to show them places where the government insists there are no weapons of mass destruction though the United States and Britain suspect otherwise.

A big event coming up on Oct. 15 for journalists to cover is the referendum on approving a further term in office for President Saddam Hussein. At the same time, reporters are monitoring the reactions of the Iraqi people and leaders to developments in the United States as the Bush administration continues to prepare for a military strike to depose Saddam while politicians and pundits argue over whether going to war is a good idea.

Exceptionally, CNN, the American television news channel that won itself a starring position with its coverage of the 1991 Persian Gulf War from Baghdad, has stayed on here ever since.

Now other U.S. news channels, including Fox News, ABC News and NBC, are asking for entry visas for their correspondents.

So many media types are expected that the Information Ministry has felt obliged to enlarge its media center.

Copyright © 2002 United Press International

  http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020926-123213-1031r

[MomwithHope]

I think you are right. I was thinking today that may be what all those "urban guerilla" drills have been about in this country. Going in after Saddam. It will be over quick. I bet it will be 3 weeks or less. They better have good intelligence and know who all the body doubles are. Get the sons too, they are just as bad.
They are doing prep work now, chipping away at their air defenses. I just hope the CIA has moles who are very close to the top.
That is what the Dasshole meltdown was all about. He smells his illegitimate power about to be taken away and a big victory for Bush.
Can you see popularity numbers in the 90's in time for the election?? I can..........

[mhking]

You're not outta line, Wiz - I was with CNNSI when Clinton went through his charade of bombings in Iraq. We had a broad time-frame warning of about a week, and we knew the actual bombing was about to start about three to six hours ahead of the actual event.

The free coffee, soda & pizza in the commissary started about a day or so out.

[bomper]

I just heard on new break about the UN resolution:

7 days to accept conditons!!

30 days to produce results.!!

[Petronski]

You have set forth an excellent case that the media believe the war is imminent. What evidence do you have, or more accurately, what makes you think that they are right?

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

LET'S ROLL !

[js1138]

Wonder how they'll broadcast after all the electronic devices in the region are fried. I expect the first news of the war to be that all contact with Baghdad has been lost.

[Quix]

SURE WOULD LIKE YOU TO BE RIGHT.

Sadly, I think it's at least a bit more complicated and likely to be much more drawn out than that.

But I hope you're right.

[EternalHope]

Assuming he chooses not to strike first, you can bet Saddam will do whatever he can to retaliate once our attack starts.

We know he has biological and chemical weapons, but we do not know how well he has been able to pre-position them. Prudence dictates that we be ready for something very bad.

Time is not on our side. Numerous press reports say Saddam may have Nukes by Christmas.

Will we wait if it looks like Saddam is about to get Nukes (assuming he does not have them already..)? Hmmm...

Does that mean we must attack before Christmas? Hmmm...

The rainy season starts in Iraq in mid-November. Clouds would interfere with our optically guided precision bombs, and make satellite observation harder. We will not throw away these advantages, so we will not start the attack during the rainy season.

Does that mean we will attack before the rainy season starts in mid-November? Hmmm...

How long before the rainy season starts would we need to start in order to take care of business before it clouds over? Hmmm...

We do not know what retaliation to expect, but would not want the bad guys to have any chance of knocking out our top elected leadership.

Congress adjourns Friday, October 4th, and goes home to campaign. Hmmm...

Our people are at home, not work, on weekends. This means an attack on our civilian population with WMD is likely to be much less devastating on a weekend.

Given the possibility of retaliation with WMD, would we prefer to launch an attack on a weekend? Hmmm...

Our initial strike will on a night with no moon. This makes our planes very hard to spot with optically guided anti-aircraft weapons.

Monday, October 6th, is the new moon. It will be a very small moon on the weekend of October 4th and 5th, however.

The Israeli government is now telling its various ministries to be ready for war by October 1st. (The previous timetable said November 1st.) Israel is really kicking booty in an all-out effort to root out all known terrorist leaders. Arafat is completely neutered. :)

We are pushing for a U.N. Security Council vote on the U.S./British resolution by the end of next week (i.e., by Friday, October 4.).

Congress will have voted on the war resolution by the time Congress leaves on October 4th. President Bush and the American people will have won the vote.

All this makes it seem like President Bush is in a hurry. Does that mean he's in a really BIG hurry? Hmmm...

President Bush has said there will be no "October Surprise". After all this build-up, would an attack on the night of Saturday, October 5th, be a "surprise"? Hmmm...

Offsetting all of this, Saddam might be able to hit us very hard with bio-weapons already. For instance, worst case scenarios estimate we could lose up to 4 million Americans in an anthrax attack against the New York subway system alone.

Are we ready? Would it be even worse to wait? Hmmm...

We are a divided nation, faced with an evil enemy bent on our extirmination. The stakes are incredibly high.

None of know what is coming, or the best course of action now. I pray for wisdom, courage and guidance for President Bush, and that He will grant His divine mercy on America.

[Williams]

I have no problem with an early jump off if the timing is right for our troops and the element of surprise. But having asked teh AUN and Congress for authorization, it is unlikely Bush will move without answers from both. And both are trying to delay until after the election.

If you are correct that an early surprise attack is our best move think how dirty the democrats are doing us by delaying the vote and sowing dissension.

[Belial]

Well I'll tell you, as it just hit me.....and I had real reservations about posting, (and If the folks here think this should go, pull away)....

I wouldn't worry abut that, genius. This soft-headed bunk is inaccurate in every respect. The war won't start in October, much less be finished by Halloween. Were you sober when you came to these conclusions?

[Scott from the Left Coast]

As a TV producer it tells me they are positioning themselves to be on air during the night, (Bagdad Time) and already have everything in place to cover what they expect to be a very short war.

As a TV producer, you are hugely over-emphasising TV's importance in all this. The networks have no more idea when this is going to commence than my dog does. They are NOT on Bush's, Cheney's, Rumsfeld's, or Rice's "notification" list.

The networks are just making a guess and trying not to get caught off-guard whenever the big blast might occur. They have no idea whatsoever what is going on, or the timing of it.

One of the greatest mistakes anyone on this planet can make is assuming that great knowledge, foresight or even understanding comes from the TV networks.

[NELSON111]

Bump...so that I can come back and remind you in 11 days that you were wrong...

[Spook86]

Not sure I agree, and I say that as both a former newsman and military intelligence officer. My guess is that the network executives are reading their tea leaves and realize that war with Iraq is inevitable, although it may/may not start in the next few weeks. Indeed, I fully expect the U.S. to give the UN a "chance" to restart the inspection process. When that fails, the U.S. will have another reason to act.

My guess is that we still need a couple of months to let the diplomats have one more try and get the rest of our forces in place. That puts the start date at late fall/early winter, which is an optimum time to initiate a war in that part of the world.

What the networks DON'T want to do is get caught with their pants down, i.e. the war starts and they don't have enough resources in place to cover it. I see their current posturing as a hedge against future events and perhaps even a dry run for upcoming coverage. Don't forget: some CBS affiliates actually aired (by mistake) a rehearsal broadcast before a U.S. military operation in the 1990s (I think it was Kosovo).

One of the best indicators of network preparations is where the anchors and key correspondents are assigned. When Jennings, Rather and Brokaw go to the Middle East, that will be a definite sign that military action is in the offing. Most of the reporters in the region right now are journeymen, like CBS' Mark Phillips. When the primary anchors or hier apparents like Brian Williams start arriving in theater, I'll be more convinced that the war is about to start.

One final thought: despite being a former journalist, nothing would please me more than to see the big media outlets get caught unprepared for the war. Leaks of classified information have gotten totally out of hand, so it would be nice to see the Administration and the Pentagon put one over on the press corps....

[Sender]

Remember Somalia? I'll never forget the reporters with floodlights on the beach saying "...and behind me, you can see the US forces landing on the beach under cover of darkness..." Only in America.

[The Great Satan]

Military action will start a few months from now. Bush is quite happy for Congress and the UN to spin their wheels for a few months, kicking this around: he is not in a hurry, and so long as he looks strong and there is no loss of momentum, he'll be happy to keep this on a slow boil.

The campaign will most likely start with token airstrikes against supposed WMD sites, but the real meat of it will be a fairly conventional, Afghanistan-style campaign to bring the North and South No-Fly zones under allied control. That's territory where Saddam's ability to project power is already highly limited by allied overflights, and has been for ten years. The people there don't like Saddam one bit.

Expect a year-long campaign, timed to climax about six months before the next Presidential election. The rate-limiting step will be establishing the civil defense infrastructure to protect against the anthrax retaliation Saddam threatened in the Daschle letter. We won't take on Saddam directly until we have some confidence on that score.

If North and South Iraq are already under allied-sponsored governments in 2004, kicking Baghdad out from under Saddam should be a trivial matter. Just go public on the anthrax, park a B52 bomber 20,000 feet over the city, and announce that any CBW retaliation will be met with nuclear annihilation. If there are any civilians or troops left in Baghdad by this stage of the war, they will be flushed within a few hours of this announcement. Saddam, a king without a kindom, will surrender soon after. Game over.

[MusicDude_Rep]

Every reply here is forgetting one thing:
When this war starts, the *&%@%#@ is going to hit the fan because Saddam WILL send either chem or bio on a warhead into Israel.............what follows is unknown.

[VaBthang4]

Arent you the same guy that said an ancient power plant is hidden inside the Giza Pyramid?

Or at least you believe it is possible?

[Edmund Burke]

Churchill and Bush the Elder both won their wars and look what happened to them! Churchill jokingly said that the public awarded him "The Order of the Boot". Once the war is won, the sheeple will want their free pills and other assorted subsidies.