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On 2003-01-04 23:22, Life-in-Review wrote:
But, in reality, this may turn into another Vietnam. Over in the Middle East, it is incredibly difficult to tell the fanatics from the innocents, much like the Viet Cong armies in Vietnam. Along with that is the fact that there are SO many of THEM and we're coming over in THEIR territory.
That didn't help them last time. Considering that one of our tanks, half disabled (broke a track or something and couldn't move - it was waiting for a retrieval unit to come get it), was able to destroy three "top of the line" Iraqi tanks
without taking noticable damage, their numbers are not enough to help them.
Air dominance, which the U.S. seizes at the earliest opportunity and does not let go of, makes it so that any mobilized force is little more than a big target (see: what happened on the Highway of Death). The only time their numbers would help them would be in city fighting, and I'm betting our generals are smart enough to realize that a city is not capable of withstanding a seige. Simply cut supply lines going into the city (which, with air dominance, is not overly difficult), wait a couple of weeks so that the water runs out, and move in with minimal resistance.
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They know that area better than we ever could.
This is not Vietnam, with a jungle canopy that obscured our eyes in the sky. This is open land, desert land mostly, and I would bet that with our high-resolution satellite maps,
we know the terrain better than
them. Cities are a different matter, but I explained how to deal with cities in my point above.
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On top of that is that our armies are considering drafting - bringing in unexperienced soldiers.
No, they're not. One Congressman has proposed reinstating the draft, with what sounds like a rather silly reason. There's no serious debate about the draft coming back.
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So, you tell me - are we ready to kill more innocents and soldiers just to avenge those already dead?
Did the idea that Iraq almost certainly has some WMDs already and is in the process of developing others ever enter your mind as you wrote this post? Furthermore, did you consider the consequences of Saddam Hussein developing a nuclear weapon, which would include one of our cities becoming another Hiroshima if he gave a bomb to a terrorist organization?
Saddam Hussein is a supporter of terrorism; he openly donates money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Iraq has also
supplied weapons to the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Granted, "It's all about the vengeance" is a different tack than "It's all about the
ooooiiiillllll," but it works out to the same thing: ignoring the threat posed by the current Iraqi regime. Vengeance is a possible, although unlikely, factor, and oil is certainly a factor, but neither of them is a deciding factor. The threat to the U.S. is the deciding factor.