The Marines and Brits are Ready

[Leatherneck]

From today's Washington Post:
In Kuwait, Commander Tells Fighters War May Be 'Just a Few Days Away'
By Peter Baker, Washington Post Foreign Service

CAMP COMMANDO, Kuwait, March 16 -- The top Marine commander in the region predicted today that war was "just a few days away" and suggested that it would begin with a three- or four-day bombing campaign intended to wipe out half the Iraqi defenders at the border before U.S. and British land forces are sent in.

In keeping with the spirit of a prewar pep talk, [LTGEN Jim] Conway talked tough for his young Marines, many of them teenagers facing combat for the first time. He noted that the Marines have "the reputation of being the baddest sons of bitches in the valley. I gotta tell you, when Abdul in the 51st Mechanized Division north of the border heard that he was taking on the 1st Marine Division followed by the 1st UK Division, he said something like, 'Ana felaka beluchi,' which is Arabic for, 'Ain't that a bitch!' "

Conway told his troops not to worry about peace protests at home, pointing to a poll showing that 71 percent of Americans want to get the Iraq situation resolved now. "When we invade Iraq," he added, "that'll go up to 91 percent. And you know how I feel about it? Piss on everybody else."

But the 55-year-old general, who took over the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in November, was careful to caution his young fighters that they would be fighting to remove the "megalomaniac" President Saddam Hussein, not "to lay waste to this place."Many Iraqis will not even want to fight, he told the Marines. If they surrender, he ordered, "bring 'em in, give 'em a cup of coffee, give 'em a cigarette, all right? Pat 'em on their skinny *** and send them to the rear. But we gotta be able to make the distinction, okay? We want to tell these people we're not here to occupy their country. We're here to get rid of this guy and turn it back over to them as soon as we can."

Conway may not get to be Secretary of State, or even the next Commandant of the Marine Corps, but I sure am glad he's right where he is for now.

TC
TFL Survivor