Iraqi children released from jail

[fatcatfan]

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030408162629.fd9ava50.html

Now... the first thing I thought was, "Yeah, we have kids in juvenile detention centers here, too. No big deal." But then you start reading about just exactly who these kids were and what their "crimes" were.

http://efreedomnews.com/News%20Archive/Iraq/Iraq%20War%20Report/WarReport08April2003.htm#children

http://efreedomnews.com/images/Iraq/MarinesFreeChildrenShumali.jpg

[TheGeepster]

More evidence weighed against the Baath regime.

Although I don't think the looting is a good thing, because what belonged to the Baath regime will soon belong to the government which replaces it, (and Iraqis will rule Iraq, we are merely the placeholder until it's put into place.)

[Daarkseid]

Its incredible, I was watching the news earlier, and it was showing jubilant crowds all over Baghdad with nary authority about, then we got to see American armored vehicles just move right into central baghdad with virtually no resistence. American Marines and Iraqi civilians were moving freely about.

This is a stark difference to the predicted street fighting that was to inflict massive casualties on coalition forces.

[fatcatfan]

Something is yet to happen... and it will likely be bad. The Iraqi military has "dissolved" into the civilian population, and "unconventional" attack was promised. I expect (though I certainly don't want to see it) suicide bombers destroying areas where American troops and relief workers will be interacting with Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. They are just waiting until we are fully in there and things settle down...

[Jigglysaint]

I would not be surprised if the walls of the jail were torn down by the angels of heaven themselves.

[carrot red]

The Young Hitler Youth revisited.
The toppled statue of Saddam is the proof of the people's adulation for its leader (despite the fully equiped torture center he offered them)!
But sadly, the war is far from being over and Baghdad very far from being secured.

[Verbatim]

It certainly sounds like things are going better than I ever expected in this phase...though todays optimisim will have to wait for tomorrow's events.

I was watching this morning live when they tore down a statue in one of the squares near central Baghdad...it was amasing to see.

I was taking a look at the Russian news earlier today (no Russia bashing, now, if you want to live to see another day)...the top story at Izvestia was something along the lines of "Why Coalition Forces Keep Shooting Their Own". I wonder how long it will take for a less biased account of the war to make it into the history books.

It's too soon to call it a success, of course, but certainly a lot of countries have been being told only the worst of it, in exaggerated accounts. No doubt, our media are downplaying the negatives...but not to the extent that theirs are playing them up, I'm sure.

[AlexMax]

"The children had been imprisoned because they had not joined the youth branch of the Baath party," he alleged. "Some of these kids had been in there for five years."

...

I'm speechless. Things like that aren't supposed to happen in this day and age...

[Gerudo]

Alex, you took the words right out of my... fingers? lol

thats just bullshit and the people who jailed those kids should be shot... thats just fucked... :shakeno:

[TheGeepster]

I hear that one of our tanks lent a hand in bringing that statue down.

And I also hear of the administration cautioning that the fighting isn't over yet, and officers telling those under them to keep focused on the task at hand and not to get complacent just yet.

[Mander]

The area in Baghdad that has been shown on TV is anti Saddam. Reporters in Baghdad are saying that in other parts of the city it is very much a warzone.

[TheGeepster]

Such has been reported, yes, Mander.

That's good reason to keep our guard up, despite the appearance that the enemy is defeated. There is still a ways to go, and the American administration has stated as much.

That being said, this war has gone very well, and the regime has all but lost to the forces of the Coalition of the Willing.

The progress has been swift, and the losses have been minor compared to what could have been. In short, this has been amongst the smoothest military operations in modern history, despite how the media has presented it.