From: "Phil Payne" 


"George Sherwood"  wrote in message
news:pan.2006.03.13.22.37.49.456375{at}beernabeer.com...
> First one from Foreign Affairs.  Good summary of military thinking in Iraq
> prior to the war.  For Phil, just ignore any comments about how brutal was
> Saddam.  We know there is no proof of this for you.
>
>
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85301/kevin-woods-james-lacey-will
iamson-murray/saddam-s-delusions-the-view-from-the-inside.html

"Saddam's Delusions: The View from the Inside

[snippage]

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS of relative external peace for Iraq after Operation
Desert Storm, in 1991, Saddam Hussein continued to receive and give
credence to optimistic assessments of his regime's prospects dished up by
his top military officers. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz described the
dictator as having been "very confident" that the United States
would not dare to attack Iraq, and that if it did, it would be
defeated."

GMAFB!  The guy KNEW he had no Air Force, he KNEW he had no air defence and
he KNEW he had almost no serviceable battle tanks. You really believe shit
of this magnitude?  He's going to hold off the world's biggest air force
without a single air superiority fighter in service?

Sure there's no proof of that for me.  It's one of the dumbest pieces of
text I've read for months.

"Saddam remained convinced that, in his own words, 'Iraq will not, in
any way, be like Afghanistan. We will not let the war become a picnic for
the American or the British soldiers. No way!'"

Go tthat bit right, though, didn't he.

The British withdrawal has begun, BTW:

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.275120534&p
ar=0

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