The Countdown - The invasion

The Countdown - The invasion is just around the corner. When?

The New Moon is tomorrow. The Full Moon is March 18. Two Airborne divisions set out two weeks ago, along with a fair chunk of the British Army.

The Guardian presents several scenarios, and predicts March 18:

Nearly all coalition forces might have reached the combat theatre. Coalition forces would be approaching 250,000, about the size discussed recently as appropriate.

Mr Blair and Mr Bush would also have had time to play out their diplomatic strategy. The period is also still relatively cool in Baghdad, with high temperatures approaching 27 degrees. It is the time of the full moon. But that may not pose a big problem if the early days emphasised high-altitude bombing and ground force operations in open terrain, where US-British forces have enormous advantages.

How about attacking early, by surprise - perhaps (as some have theorized) as early as tomorrow?

Unlikely - we still have three divisions that are en route - the 82nd and 101st Airborne, and the 4th Mech Infantry. They should be off-loading in the Gulf any time here - but these units, especially the 101st, are all vital for a quick war, and each will need time to unscramble their equipment and get ready for action.

Still - I think this is the month.

Posted by Mitch at March 1, 2003 08:43 PM