Taking An Entire City Hostage

Iraq's 51st Army Division is up to pretty impressive stuff. Not only are they attempting to filter back into the civilian confines of Basra, and thus escape immediate harm from Coalition forces, but they are also trying to precipitate a humanitarian catastrophe, holding an entire city of 1.3 million people hostage (a city about the size of my home city of Sacramento, CA), depriving it of the electricity, water, and food that would otherwise be available from Coalition and international sources. Pretty audacious! At first I thought it strange that Saddam Hussein praised the leadership of the 51st, in his recent television speech, even though the leadership had already ostensibly surrendered. This weird praise had convinced some people that the speech must have been taped a few days ago, prior to the start of the fighting, but that apparently wasn't the real reason - this hostage mission is the real reason. In addition, Vice President Ibrahim Ramadan seemed unusually eager in his speech this morning to draw attention to the recent breakdown of the U.N.'s Food-for-Oil program (suspended due to the start of hostilities), and determined to blame the impending suffering of Iraqi civilians on Coalition forces. It's clear that these vile events must have been long-planned. The Sunnis of central Iraq thus sacrifice their Shia 'brethren' in southern Iraq. The only impediment to the plan is that people in Basra itself now seem to be rebelling against the plan, and frantically enlisting the British in their rebellion. The conflicted people of southern Iraq have been loathe to openly support Coalition forces, but now that their lives are definitely in danger unless they act fast, they're changing their minds.