This had a date problem. so I'm resending it. >Keith and Brad > >This is a fun interchange. I went to bed last night while you were walking >the dog in Bath. > >However, back to business. > >Don't give up too quickly on the Saudi thought. There are still those >bunches of soldiers surrounding SA - quite apart from the internal US >installations. > >Meantime, to get SH to allow real and complete inspections, it is >imperative that he believes the Texas Cowboys are raring to come in >shooting. However, as I said several weeks ago, this assumes an American >policy of misdirection - for which they are not noted. > >(One recalls the Marines coming up off the beaches of Somalia to find - >more reporters and photographers than there were Marines.) > >One doesn't give an enemy 6 months notice you are going to attack him - >unless supreme arrogance holds sway (which might also be true). Of course >air power is supposed to be the determining factor, but wars are won on >the ground by occupation of the enemy's homeland. > >One remembers Monte Cassino, center of one of the most momentous battles >of WW2 as the allies advanced through Italy. The monastery itself was left >alone but its surroundings were subjected to the most horrendous bombing >and shelling one can imagine over a period of 4 months. Thousands of >planes and guns pounded Monte Cassino. > >Yet the German parachutists not only held the position, but they were >undefeated. They left when they were ordered back because of the crumbling >front. In case anyone might think this was a little backwater operation, >it was the battle that opened up the path to Rome and relieved the Anzio >Beachhead - probably as ill-conceived a venture as one can imagine. Though >that's for heated debate over many beers. > >Some 118,000 allied soldiers lost their lives (107,000 of them American). >It was the Battle for Italy. > >Of course we would never get into a situation like that again. Would we? > >Naaaah! > >Of course, I hope no-one notices the mixture of hope and fear in my words. > >Harry
****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
