March 20, 2003
IS THERE STILL A KEY?:
Fall of Basra holds key to Baghdad (Ben Rooney, 21/03/2003, Daily Telegraph)The seizure of Basra would be a stunning psychological blow to Saddam Hussein's regime, depriving him of his third largest city and giving the Allies a huge
strategic advantage.Basra opens up the route to Baghdad, 350 miles to the north-west. Once the Iraqi 3rd Corps defending the area is routed, there are no other forces before the capital. The approaches to Baghdad up the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates are wide open.
Basra is the largest city in southern Iraq. Situated on the west bank of Shatt Al-Arab, 35 miles from the Gulf it is the main gate to the outside world. The main port of Iraq, it is the terminal point for oil pipelines, and petroleum refining is a major industry.
The seizure of Basra and the ports to its south opens up a new and much shorter supply route for troops occupying the south of Iraq.
By grabbing Iraq's only access to the Gulf it will allow the coalition forces to bring in reinforcements directly rather than through the overcrowded and more distant ports in Kuwait.
It'll fall as soon as we get there, won't it?
MORE:
Marines drive to Basra is key to decisive victory (JACK FAIRWEATHER AND JIM MCBETH, 3/21/03, The Scotsman)
Mr. Judd;
If not before.
If there is a competent reporter writing English in this world, aside from Sylvia Pudjoli, I have never heard of him.
The crowing about the rush of US armor across the border merely demonstrates that these guys don't know what they are talking about. Of course, the Iraqis were not going to opt for a battle in the open without armor or air cover. They may not fight in Baghdad, I don't know. But no one who knows anything about warfare expected them to fight in the desert.
Basra is the gateway to, well, to Basra.
This piece is just silly, but no sillier than some of the other "reporting" I've heard.
Silliest single statement so far: a former commandant of the Army War College, on Fox, explaining at length how this was the first time since 1809 that the Marines have fought inland. "They take beaches," he said.
Yeah, those were impostors at Peking in 1900 and at Belleau Wood in 1918.
Disgraceful.