Let’s roll

I read a bit of an interview with an officer in the 3d ID who, when asked what his plans were replied, “Baghdad. That’s where we’re going, one step at a time.”

Now that’s just bad ass. Reminds me of William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 who mumbled that his final destination was “salt water.” What lies in wait along the way matters no more to our boys in the desert than what laid in Sherman’s path.

On that subject, I thought we’d be in Baghdad by the end of last week. I truly didn’t see any reason not to think so. What I hadn’t considered is the mind-boggling extent to which we’ve tried to preserve Iraqi lives and property. Our insistence on this point is so extreme it seems we’re even willing to endanger our own troops to ensure Iraqi well-being. That’s just amazing to me and very indicative of the sort of nation we are. Iraq is not the enemy, Saddam and his cronies are our enemy and so we have been doing our damnedest to ensure that death and destruction only comes to Saddam and his protectors. Does anyone honestly think that any other nation in history would put their own cooks and maintenance personnel at risk in order to keep advancing and eliminate the real target? Not bloody likely.

I do hope, however, that if we lose too many more prisoners or take more casualties we’ll cut loose. I doubt highly we’ve seen shock and awe. I know we’re capable of much more. How about cluster bombing a thoroughfare right through the middle of the Republican Guard? Does anyone doubt we could cut an interstate for our people, right through the middle of their armor, within a matter of hours? I reckon the Iraqis are getting the idea. You notice the two Apache pilots were having a bite to eat and something to drink while they were being interviewed. A sight different that the treatment of our POWs during the weekend.

Let them fight back. We could teach them in an instant that it’s in their own best interest not to resist. In the meantime, roll on lads. Roll on.