Summary

Quick summary of today’s events, thanks to Fox:

Allied forces continued their attack on Baghdad Thursday night, firing sea-launched Tomahawk missiles into the heart of the Iraqi capital. And U.S. Marines were on the move in the South, crossing over the border from Kuwait and heading north.

In a significant move, the Marines secured the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr, the only major seaport for goods to enter Iraq.

Umm Qasr is 30 miles to the south of Basra, which coalition forces hope will be the first major Iraqi city to fall.

Pentagon officials said large numbers of senior Republican Guard members are signalling that they would like to surrender.

“There are significant indications that the Iraqi military is breaking from within,” a Defense official told Fox News. “So far, so very good.”

Quite good, indeed. Especially heartening is word that we really are in touch with “senior Republican Guard members.” It won’t take too many RP units bowing out to open up the road to Baghdad, and with enough white flags, resistence in Baghdad might melt away, too.

Too soon to tell, but the end of this war could look more like Italy than Germany. Truth is, every war is different, and the end of this one will end up looking more like itself than like anything else.