US redoubles efforts to shore up the home front

[Charles Jannuzi <b_rieux@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not sure whether or not it's been a lull in
fighting (definitely not in the bombing), but the
news stories might indicate something.

Here's a review of what I saw on TV:

1. Rangers attacking the pocket of Islamic Kurds
who are not on the US side. I saw a firefight
through night vision sights but no evidence
whatsoever of what they actually accomplished.
It looked like a Chuck Norris production in that
the rangers weren't very dispersed or using cover
that carefully, and some weren't wearing helmets.
Overall, it was about as impressive as the 173rd
Airborne coming into the airfield in N. Iraq. I
didn't see one open parachute for a soldier, and
I suspect they flew most of them in.

The danger ranger engagement, however, was used
to link Al Qaeda with Saddam Hussein and ricin
found at the encampment to strengthen the link.

2. Royal Marine 'commandos' in another special
operation (hey, the whole freaking war is a
special operation, everyone is elite, blah blah)
cowboying around the suburbs of Basra. They
claimed to kill many and capture more, but again
no actual evidence shown.

3. US Marines in action in the south. Looked
similar to the Royal Marines in Basra with
different vehicles. The Sunday Times had an
article up detailing US Marines killing civilians
near the river, but now the article is down
(though the headline is still there).

4. 'Elite' US 101st Air Mobile (they fly attack
helicopters like the Rangers and Marines
do)assault on 'elite' division outside of
Baghdad. At least two helicopters lost, though I
also heard the pile up caused by a damaged
helicopter at a landing site was worse than that.
All objectives accomplished, but no evidence that
they actually were.

5. The suicide attack, which was supposed to show
the 'terrorist' nature of the Saddam Hussein
regime.

Which means? Well, I'm not sure, but it was
definitely used to maximum effect to reassure the
folks back home that everything was going to
plan. I would say, though, that the totally
contrived, artificially positive nature of much
of the news and the 'terror' spin put on the rest
indicates that either the campaign is in deep,
deep trouble or that they did take a break to
regroup and decided to use the lull to produce
some effective 'reality' TV for the home fronts
while Baghdad was bombed and burned. The US main
element is still crowing about how they are 60
miles from Baghdad which, correct me if I'm
wrong, they've been saying for about a week.

C Jannuzi
Fukui, Japan

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