NO ‘BAGHDAD BLOODBATH’
Yet another article by Ralph Peters today, this in NY Post. Despite his misgivings about the strategy, noted a couple posts down, he is nonetheless very upbeat about our progress to date:
You may hear some confused, alarmed reporting. We may even suffer our first armored-vehicle losses of this war. But, when the smoke clears, our troops will be rolling on to Baghdad amid the charred hulks of hundreds of Iraqi vehicles and mile after mile of Iraqi bodies.
He also seems to have some slight quibbles with the analysis of the television punditocricy:
Despite the steady progress of our troops, we continue to hear dire warnings about an impending bloodbath in Baghdad, once Saddam lures us into the streets of his ultimate fortress, his “Stalingrad” on the Euphrates.
Just a minute there, Herr Professor. Calm down, Dr. Think Tank. I’m just a former career soldier, so I don’t understand military operations the way academics and pundits do. Explain something to me, slowly and clearly:
Why on earth would Gen. Tommy Franks do exactly what Saddam wants, and send our forces charging into the streets of Baghdad?
We’re not stupid – or Russian – for God’s sake. We’re not going to slug down a couple of bottles of vodka apiece and drive straight into Grozniy while Chechens pick off our tanks and troops at their leisure.
We are going to make the rules in Baghdad, not Saddam.
He continues in a like vein. Amusing and worth the read. (Hat tip: InstaPundit)
