> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "d.brin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> <snip standard Kiln People spiel>
> > 5. Amid all the preparations for war, why are the armed forces not
> bringing
> > along press people? Not even as many as accompanied the highly
> > secure/secret invasion of Normandy in 1944?
I'm actually pleased we're not going to have live coverage of this. Why should
the enemy get warning, live updates, video imagery and even BDA from CNN. They
want live coverage, go build their own satellite network and uplink relay
systems. In 1944, the press took notes on a pad and took photos on film - not
quite equivalent to live commentary into a satellite phone and camcorder footage
sent via the internet to Atlanta in seconds.
> > 6. I am in favor of responding assertively. But before diving headfirst
> > into Afghanistan, where no intervening power has ever come away unscathed,
> > should we be asking - is this possibly the VERY thing that bin Laden
> wanted
> > to achieve? To come fight on his home killing ground? We should choose
> our
> > own battleground, playing to our strengths.
The East India company and the Russians may have failed, but plenty of others
have succeeded - the trick is to achieve your objectives and get out - leave
Afghanistan to the Afghans. The Raj who invaded to curb the Afghan raids into
India succeeded in going in and rooting out the raiders, but didn't make the
mistake of trying to install a government.
> > Our chief strategic aim should not be to catch one wily bastard. It
> > should be to get CNN pictures of locals welcoming our boys as liberators.
> > The lesson: our foes cause tears, we bring joy. It's the only image that
> > will turn killing into victory, instead of another round of escalating
> > tit-for-tat.
> > There is a scenario that could achieve that. Anything we do that
> > shows weeping widows will be counterproductive.
I think list discussion in the last week or so has covered this one pretty
well...
(I didn't mention the other points he listed re airliners, banking etc simply
because not being American, I can't understand or comment on the American
obsession with secrecy/privacy. I don't really care who knows about my bank
accounts (or lack thereof) and I don't mind being searched when getting on a
plane, but I know Americans do, and most of them appear to distrust their own
elected government, so I'll leave privacy related issues to the Americans)
Russell C.
