It's certainly not news that Iraqi air defenses and US air patrols are taking potshots at each other - it's been going on just about ever since GWI died down to the current low level of intensity.

But what we may be seeing here are the first salvos of GWII, where the critical field of battle will be the media. We smacked some Iraqi air defense radars today, and Saddam protests that we hit "civilian" targets. "At 0855 a.m. local time (12:55 a.m. EDT) today U.S. and British planes...flew 35 sorties using air bases in Kuwait," the Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).

"The enemy attacked civilian and service installations in Basra province, killing eight people and wounding nine others," the spokesman said."

Expect to see a whole lot more of this in the coming months, as Saddam tries to play the collateral damage card to undermine support for the war to toss him out of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Cheney made a speech today outlining the need to go and get him now, close on the heels of Tom Delay's speech on the same topic. The administration is starting to make it's case, as it should.

Meanwhile, the DoD has just informed reservists in many of the critical combat support billets that they are liable to be kept on active duty for up to two years, for the very first time since the formation of the all-volunteer forces in 1973.

For better or for worse, the decision has been made. The administation, Congress, and the press will all prance through the rituals of the kabuki, for custom's sake. We are now like the passengers in a rollercoaster, as it clinks and clanks it's way up the climb to start the ride - there's no getting off the ride now until the very end.

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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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Bush43 and Rumsfeld have both at various times stated that there would be things going on that would not be apparent to the public or the media. Seems that while their public pronouncements have been vague, (43 says that's that he hasn't decided on military action, etc.) the military operation against Iraq is already underway.

Don't ask me how I know. Well, go 'head and ask, but I ain't sayin' nuttin'. Well, not nothing. I will say that Marines, current and former, have an extensive informal information network, and bartenders around Ft. Bragg hear lotsa stuff from lonely Army wives. :-) And all the official .mil sites have gotten real hush-mouthed over where the carriers are.

I'm guessing mid-November now.

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