A week or so ago, I wrote that I would be a wonderful idea for the US to begin the psyop campaign. One of the reasons why I thought it would be a good idea was to convince the citizens of Baghdad to get the hell out of the city before Saddam locked it down.

It seems that the lockdown has already started. UPI reports that citizens of Baghdad are now liable to have their assets confiscated if they flee the city.

Can you imagine the US telling the citizens of New York, for example, that there was likely to be an attack on the city, but if they chose to leave the city for their own safety, they would be subject to penalties? How and why on earth are there any so-called liberals that continue maintain that there is no reason to remove this man from amongst the living?

Meanwhile, the report continues, many officials in the government are selling their properties and exchanging the money for hard currency. This, of course, makes their assets more portable, and as an added bonus, harder for Saddam to get his mitts on, when they decide to shit and git, or as we used to say in the Corps when there were more tender ears about, to "defecate and displace."

Finally, keeping the folks in the city keeps them available to be pressganged into militias to repel the invading Great Satan.

I'd hate to be Saddam right now - think of the decisions he has to make. He can't even allow his regular troops into the city - only the Special Republican Guard (note - not even the regular Republican Guard units) are allowed into the city, for fear of their being used against him in a coup. But at some point, he's going to have to issue heavy weapons (an AK is useless against a tank) and ammo to the people of Baghdad, if he wants to use them to fight the US troops. He has to know that those bullets and rocket launchers are more likely to be used against him than us.

Poor baby.

This is All Good. For him to take such drastic measures so soon is a great indicator. You can bet Saddam knows much more accurately than I, or the Pentagon, do about the level of popular support he truly enjoys. Actions like this tell me that is is possible that even his most loyal units will fold like an accordion at the first sign of American attack, and that the people will immediately rise up against him, so that we can avoid the dreadful scenario of having to slug it out house-to-house in Baghdad.

We shall see.

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