----- Original Message ----- From: "Gautam Mukunda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 5:51 PM Subject: RE: Netherlands Promises "Deeds, Not Just Words"
> > To take your statements in order - the first is moral support. Although the > material value of (non-British) European support in Afghanistan - or > anywhere else - will approach a rounding error in the total correlation of > forces, the moral and diplomatic value will be non-trivial. Note however > that the value of British support will be substantial - the SAS are some of > the finest soldiers in the world and they have extensive experience in > operating in places like Afghanistan. For all practical purposes they > invented special operations warfare and they will certainly be of > significant help in Afghanistan, as they were in the Gulf. I was going to dare to argue with you about the relative ability/contributions of different military forces if you had not excluded the British from the "rounding errors" analysis. I was relieved to see that I didn't have to argue. :-) My memory of the Gulf War was that, with rare exception either the phrase "The US" or "The US and British" were used almost every time to describe sorties. I had also heard that there SAS was very good. Finally, if what I've been told is correct, some of the SAS rotates into ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace. Personally, I think the playing of the Star Spangled Banner during the changing of the guard was especially poignant when some of the Guards are likely to rotate back into more active service and risk their lives alongside American servicemen. >Even if your own contribution towards the completion of a > worthwhile goal is fairly small, it nonetheless does not relieve you of the > moral obligation to do it. I think that the argument for the need for Europeans to scale up their military so they can shoulder their fair share of the burden of the West is a reasonable one, but I'm still going to be very grateful for contributions consistent with what they can accomplish now. Dan M.
