If you want info and insight on Iraq, skip Doug Jehl and go to Command Post or belmontclub.blogspot.com or rantburg.com.

Didn’t the allies leak wrong information before DDay to throw the Germans off? LIi to the press so that they can lie to the enemy.

And I agree with you here. I think the military is up to alot we don’t know about and I don’t for one minute believe they just sit back and let those people go without a plan.

I just wish it would settle down over there.

But the press has a lot vested in Iraqi disaster so until and unless it is Paris on the Euphrates in Baghdad they are not going to let up.

The MSM was recently grousing that an Army (I think) officer at Fallujah told them that the invasion of the town would start that day. It actually started a week later.

Reasonable sources (don’t remember which) reported that this was part of a disinformation effort aimed at the enemy.

Sometimes, even the MSM have value – for spreading disinformation to the enemy.

More often, they are spreading it to us.

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The military is capable of amazing screw ups, which probably is one reason the most creative new curse words and phrases, not to mention the time worn ones, come from there.

But I would be surprised if this time they didn’t have very specific plans regarding people leaving Fallujah.

I suspect that a lot of sensor activity was focused on the area for quite a while before the attack. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people still analyzing the resulting imagery, RF intercepts and whatever from that time to see who went where. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a few “who’s” had some consequent very unpleasant experiences.

I remember the conspiracy theories about the KAL shootdown by the Soviets. The conspiracists said the fact that we had signals intelligence from the fighter meant that we were specifically targetting that flight to listen in, because yada yada yada.

What they didn’t know, even though it’s obvious in retrospect, is that certain agencies record almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum in all sorts of places, and can then play it back if an interesting event happened.

Another example: a radio operator in my squadron broadcast a false MAYDAY (a very bad thing to do). The next day he was in cuffs. He hadn’t told anyone. I suspect someone played back some sensor data and did a signature analysis (the undercover ONI agent in our squadron was busy looking for druggies and wasn’t involved in this).

Actually, the more I ponder this the angrier I get. Just what the heck am I (a taxpaying citizen) paying for here? A CIA blabbermouth with buddies at the Al Jazerra network in print? Come to think of it, why do we have to put up with this kind of garbage another minute? When our security is jeopardized by a yahoo who thinks he/she is smarter than the government that I believe I have a dog in this hunt. I say the government should shackle that station chief in Baghdad and arrest the NYTimes reporter. Actually, freedom of the press does not include the right not to reveal sources and the sooner that little argument goes to the supreme court the better. I don’t believe in anonymous sources when that source is a federal employee whocan jeopardize my families security. Perhaps a few dozen of these reports should spend a few months in solitary pondering their treasonous behavior. I say hang ‘em. The NY Times disgusts me.

http://www.acmi.fsbusiness.co.uk/html/ahmr0242.htm

I am sure there is more method to the assault than we know. They may well have been watching the terrorists just see where they would go.

One thing is for sure the terrorists do not seem to want to mess with the American military, it is far more vulnerable Iraqis they go after now. That does not strike me as the way to win friends or support.

And I am with Jerry, fire the bastards. Maybe then they will shut the hell up.

Its funny how many of these stories do get reported but mostly in local newspapers rather than national papers like the NYT.

I’ve noticed that too. In someways the local papers contain more news than the big city papers. They are closer to the ground and more likely to interview actual participants at length. The big papers seem to be above it all or conduct kiss and run quickie interviews.

Sgt Graunke, the Marine in the picture, was a recipient of a Fallen Patriot grant and has been very active with the Fallen Patriot Fund as their web site shows.

I also found this moving story about the Sgt. Graunke’s mother.

Its funny how many of these stories do get reported but mostly in local newspapers rather than national papers like the NYT.

“I’ve danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales”

If you believe Debka (and in this instance I do), much of the planning of the Falluja offensive was actually focused on carefully (and rather secretly) narrowing the possible escape routes to force/funnel the fleeing Islanimals (or a decent percentage of them) to particular locations in nearby cities. I was glad to read this because I was also becoming infuriated at the amount of time spent on the “the red (white and blue) shirts are coming!”

Bottom line though is that as long as we’re dealing with life or death maneouvers, we will never be given a full picture of our troops’ plans (as it should be), and I, for one, would understand and condone it if a fair portion of what we do get is intentional misinformation.

BTW, A REQUEST: Can someone e-mail me with info on how to suggest topics to Roger without having to go off topic in a comment string? I’m at bruce_wechsler@adp.com . Much obliged.