Eliminate Saddam In One Shot

[RawAlex]

I keep seeing these great "Saddam and his men" meetings that seem to come up every week in Iraq - where pretty much all the military leaders get together, chat about things, suck Saddam's dick (figuratively, I am assuming) and then go about their business.

Why not just bomb where these things occur?

With spy sats and such, the US should pretty much be able to determine when one of these things happens (general's all leave different bases, all end up in one place, well, DUH!). At the moment they start, launch a cruise missle or two into the building.

Boom, the heads of the military, and hopefully Saddam, are done for.

... or am I missing something?

Alex

h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r:

[Ironhorse]

These locations are underground bunkers, very top secret. If you notice the footage usually the room has curtains but you know there really are no windows. And what about that guy behind Saddam, there's always some soldier right behind him, anyone figured out his function? (Don't get cute..hehe)

According to most accounts Saddam has replaced many of the more capable army officers with ultra-loyalist party folk, these types are not always the most proficient military leaders, so although the single shot theory has not worked in Baghdad (I'm sure it's been tried) a well-placed military charge should bring the weak Iraqi army morale to its knees and once you have that, mass defections follow.

Sure you will have scattered resistance, but my guess is US will avoid cities like the plague at least at first, nobody wants a sequel to BlackHawk Down

[Rolo]

Saddam is known to have several doubles:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/813837.asp?cp1=1

Also I would expect that meetings etc. have been taped well in advance - just like the Bin Laden tapes, so if there should happen anything, then people will not get stress, because they do not get their daily dose of Saddam on their TVs (in most Iraq TV they show video or pictures of Saddam, with some music in the backgroud - never hearing what he and his generals are talking about - just some calm pleasent music... so they could run Saddam on the TV for months before people will suspect that they are watching reruns... radio is forbidden in Iraq).

In the last gulf war he was hiding in his underground bunker, and he is probably going to sit there again, when/if the bombs start hitting Iraq. And bombing that underground bunker will not be possible - it was build by the best military standards from the US and Europe, when Iraq was in war with Iran. Only ways to get him:

- Have his own army take him out
- Send US ground trops in
- Bury him alive

Also not good idéa to kill every high ranking officer in Iraq - someone needs to be there and control the masses after Saddam is gone.



Last edited by Rolo at Feb 2 2003, 02:35 PM

[Mike AI]

Alex, if it was that easy - I am fairly certain Bush would be bombing....

However it is not, Saddam is a pretty smart, and ruthless person who has remained in power for a long time.... he has done this by being cunning, and having layers of protecting that check on each other.

[RawAlex]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Feb 2 2003, 05:29 PM
However it is not, Saddam is a pretty smart, and ruthless person who has remained in power for a long time.... he has done this by being cunning, and having layers of protecting that check on each other.

Mike, I agree, except that I have to assume that there are multiple spy sats right now taking closeup pictures of everything in Iraq right now, and they are probably able to tell the price of fresh fruit in the marketplaces of bahgdad with them... so having major military figures coming out of what looks to be about 60 different units and all ending up in the same place, "secret" or not, should pretty much be a good indication of something going on.

Seems to me that either the sats aren't as good as claimed, or the military isn't thinking outside of the box on this one... looking at a standard attack, you know, bridges, communication, power, roads, military barracks, airports... the usual attack pattern that slows the enemy down but gives the bigwigs plenty of time to take cover and stay out of harms way (see Osama Bin Ladin).

Alex

[Mike AI]

Alex I agree with you, I would like to see more done on the assasination front as well. Surely we could do some unique things. Remember though, military is a very conservative orginization.... one thing Rumsfield has been pushing is the thought process, to get out of the box and use our brains to deploy our high technology in more unique, effective ways.

The first persian gulf war was a quantum leap in combat, I think in 2003 we will see another quantum leap. We will have some surprises I am sure, and some special technology!

I just hope we use it to make sure the war is over quickly, without many casualties on our side.

[RawAlex]

Mike, I don't think that "assasination" is the right term for it. The US has stated the goal of "regime change"... eliminating the leader and the apparatus that surrounds him is a good way to do it.

Classic was tactics, as I mentioned before, only impose suffering on the target country (which, if the US wins, for some reason the US pays to rebuild!), and does little or nothing to get the people of the country onto the US's side.

More importanly, that initial strike that takes out "command and control" targets also gives the leader plenty of time to hide out... I am sure it won't take 24 hours for Saddam to go to ground. He will be well hidden within minutes of the first bomb LAUNCHED.

More important for the US, if things aren't settled out quickly, you can expect to see the oil fields of iraq looking like those of Kuwait 12 years ago... aflame, useless, and inflicting economic pain on the US.

Nobody has mentioned, I might point out, the possiblity of poisoning the oil supply, perhaps by nuclear means, to make it worthless for all involved. Not a smart plan for someone trying to stay in power, but an interesting "with my last breathe, I stab at thee" type concept.

Alex

[Mike AI]

Yeah Alex, since it is against US law to assasinate world leaders, I think the military calls it something like attacking C&C. Command and Control, and since at the top it is Saddam they should get him soon.

I am worried about what Saddam is going to do, if his back is against the corner he will do stupid things like trying to use WMD. Infact it would not surprise me if he tries some form of pre-emptive strike against US troops.

Saddam will lose, BUT he could cause a lot of problems still. Obviously if he and his top people were made to die - this would help. The sooner, the better.

[Rolo]

It would be bad PR, if US trops killed Saddam directly... Muslims around the world would make him a martyr. Much better if we could have Saddams own soldiers turn their weapons on him, or capture him alive and send him to UN war criminal court.

Saw an interesting tv show tonight regarding how the Iraq and US media have been reporting, since the conflict started. The old saying, "Truth is the First Casualty of War", seams to be very true...



Last edited by Rolo at Feb 2 2003, 04:53 PM

[Almighty Colin]

It would be damned difficult to use satellites to find a person or even a group of people in the timespan of a meeting. It's not the resolution capabilities that are lacking but the ability to process that much information. Some of the Iraqi presidential palaces alone are 10 square mile complexes and I'm guessing meetings are not regularly held there. Stated resolution on the best satellites are, I believe, a few inches. How many square inches in Baghdad though? With about 4 billion square inches per square mile you'll need more than the will of Allah to help you. What process would you use to sort through all the satellite data in a few hours?

I can't even find Waldo sometimes and he's on a 94 inch square piece of paper and is conveniently dressed in red and white stripes.



Last edited by Colin at Feb 3 2003, 09:02 AM

[JR]

i was in London the other day and there was an interesting program on TV with some ex-SAS officers talking about assassinating Saddam Hussein.

Basically, everyone agrees that he is pretty difficult to find even if someone wanted to. he never sleeps in the same place twice, no one ever knows where he is going or where he will be except 1-2 close security agents at the last minute. His own kids cant talk to him without a written request in advance. he has countless doubles. a pudgy Middle Eastern guy with a thick black mustache is not exactly rare that part of the world either... he apparently is known to travel around the country by himself, driving in civilian cars or delivery vans, in civilian clothes, rather than conspicuous convoys of security agents and body guards.

Mossad has planned on several occasions to take him out. they are a world favorite in the "kill Saddam game" by far. apparently they are VERY active in making people dissapear worldwide and in the Arab world. They tried on a couple different times to kill Saddam and failed.

the US fired a missile into the front entrance of the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad during the Gulf War, knowing that he was in a bunker under the lobby. but of course, the journalists that were living in the hotel did not appreciate it or find any sense of irony or humor in it at all.

[Mike AI]

I can't even find Waldo sometimes and he's on a 94 inch square piece of paper and is conveniently dressed in red and white stripes.

HAHAHAHA