U.S. Building Forts On Iraq Border (32 being built)

[leftchick]

http://kutv.com/topstories/topstories_story_018113151.html


The line of trucks and cars waiting to approach this Iraqi- and U.S.-manned checkpoint on the border with Syria stretches for dozens of miles. Drivers are forced to wait days before they're allowed to pass into Iraq. And many are turned back. Most of them are men of fighting age.

A force of about 500 Iraqis patrols this area of the border. Overseen by U.S. Marines, the Iraqis call themselves the "Desert Wolves." Many are former soldiers from Saddam Hussein's regime and most are recruited from Tikrit (Saddam's hometown), Samarra and Baghdad.

They were trained in Jordan to take over for a border police force that was largely disbanded because of corruption. Acting on the orders from the interim Iraqi government, Marines stripped many of the former guards of their weapons and vehicles.

~snip~


The U.S. military is also supervising a complex of 32 forts being built along the borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. The Marines move the Iraqis into them as quickly as possible, because in the past the forts have been looted and destroyed before they could be manned.

[Redstone]

1. Hey, guys, there's a Mr. Maginot on the line...

Says he has some advice for you.

Forts! Nice stationary targets. What's next, will they upgrade them with moats and drawbridges?

Redstone

[Bozita]

2. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria ... but not Iran ... WTF?

When they said forts, they meant it. Check out the picture.

[ECH1969]

3. The new government of Iraq that will take over

After January 30th will be Shiite, thus friendly to Iran. I don't think we will have to worry too much of Iran destabilizing Iraq after that. If anything I expect the Iranian government to send troops to help the Shiites crush the Sunnis. I expect an arms race to occur between the US and Iran when it comes to providing the new government with money, arms, and training. Both the US and Iran want to be the number one partner of the new government.

[saigon68]

4. The only thing missing is the French Foreign Legion

http://images.viacomlocalnetworks.com/images_sizedimage_018093045/xl


REMEMBER BEAU GESTE !!!!!

[TahitiNut]

5. Shirley, you Geste?

Those will make fine mausoleums. :eyes:

[malachi]

7. Picture funny as hell. Where's Larry of Arabia when you need him?

Project is so ridiculous that it has to be a halliburton clusterfuck.

[Bridget Burke]

15. Lawrence of Arabia wouldn't have taken part....

He told the Arabs that their reward for fighting the Turks would be their own countries. But the old men at Versailles drew lines on the map & divided up the spoils. It embittered him.

Before the war, Lawrence did archaeological work on Crusader castles in the Middle East. Castles that Europeans built to protect their conquests. Castles that were lost within 2 centuries.

[daleo]

11. That looks like it has been there a while

It probably was built during Hussein's regime. I am just guessing, based on the appearance, though.

[Redstone]

13. Holy smokes, Bozita, they sure DID mean forts...

I looked at the picture. What movie designer do you suppose did the design?

So, how many snipers do you figure it would take to bottle up the garrison of one of those forts until they got hungry and surrendered? I figure three shifts of half a dozen per shift.

Redstone

[sidpleasant]

17. The truck in the photo is about where the car bomb will go off, I expect

A bunch of Iraqi Quislings gathered together in an old fort that's probably made of unreinforced masonry? Looks like a perfect target for an insurgent car bomb to me. It might not blow down the entire thing but it'll knock over one wall.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. First picture! (The "F" stands for freedom)

[Nostradammit]

8. Where'd you get those coconuts?!!

[leftchick]

9. lol!

:)

[Megahurtz]

10. This is just too scary

they are preparing for something. Doesn't Iraq border on Iran?:scared:

[seriousstan]

12. Not along the Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syrian borders.

[Robbien]

14. They have 500 men guarding the boarders, Saddam had 500,000

The Frontier Guard and the Mobile Force accounted for an estimated 50,000 additional men within the security system. . . . these forces consisted of full-time, professional men-at-arms. Frontier Guard personnel were stationed principally in northern Iraq along the borders with Iran, Turkey, and Syria . . . It was armed with infantry weapons, with artillery, and with armored vehicles, and it contained commando units trained to deal with guerrilla activities.

http://www.country-studies.com/iraq/internal-security-in-the-1980s.html

Something is not right here.

[da_chimperor]

16. The border with those three countries is just over 1600km, not incl. Iran

"The Marines hope the border patrol forces will eventually number more than 1,200."

How the hell do they expect 1200 men to do anything to secure a border so large?

[Jose Diablo]

18. Now now, remember the important thing

Who got to build the forts? Lets keep it in perspective. Who cares if the idea of forts is so out of date in modern warfare.

There is money to be made.

[lawladyprof]

19. Good grief, that does look positively medieval--eom

N/T