March 11, 2003

RED HARVESTER:

U.S. in contact with some members of Iraqi military, Rumsfeld says (TOM INFIELD, Mar. 11, 2003, Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the United States was in secret contact with elements of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's military who it hopes will step aside or surrender in the event of an American-led attack.

Rumsfeld's comments, at a Pentagon news conference broadcast into Iraq, marked the first official indication from the U.S. military that some Iraqi soldiers are cooperating in undermining Saddam.

"They are being communicated with privately at the present time," Rumsfeld said.

"They are being - will be - communicated with, in a more public way. And they will receive instructions so that they can behave in a way that will be seen and understood as being nonthreatening. And they will not be considered combatants, and they will be handled in a way that they are no longer part of the problem."

The disclosure, together with the testing of a terrifying new American bomb Tuesday at an Air Force installation in Florida, seemed aimed at fomenting fear - front and rear - in the Iraqi military.


That's the beauty of it--it doesn't matter whether we're in contact or not so long as the Iraqi command structure starts wondering who's trustworthy and who isn't. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 11, 2003 9:44 PM
Comments

The blogsphere has been very pessimistic today about US/UK going after Saddam - full of Bush is a wimp talk. As an example I've seen this article used as proof the US is trying for a coup and isn't serious about taking out Saddam.

Posted by: AWW at March 11, 2003 10:15 PM

Good gravy, you're not wobbling again are you? W addresses the nation after the UN vote Thursday and the war starts Friday.

Posted by: oj at March 11, 2003 10:54 PM

If the USA doesn't garner the requisite 9 votes in the UNSC, France will be able to abstain. Bush wants to force France to veto. He's willing to drag it out a few more days if necessary.

Posted by: Gideon at March 11, 2003 11:08 PM

Krauthammer's article in today's Washington Post lays it all out on the table.

Posted by: Barry Meislin at March 12, 2003 3:17 AM

OJ - I'm not going wobbly, I still believe action before April. I was simply pointing out that yesterday's blogsites were unbelievably pessimistic yet again. It's amazing to see conservative bloggers ignore the evidence (300K troops in Gulf, Spec Ops action, bombing runs) and claim Bush is going to completely fold.

Posted by: AWW at March 12, 2003 10:32 AM

Gideon - interesting point. I agree that the ideal would be a 9 vote pass which forces France to veto. I wonder if this is why Bush pushed the vote back. The pundits keep claiming the US doesn't have the 9 votes but hopefully we'll find out tomorrow.

Posted by: AWW at March 12, 2003 10:35 AM
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