Wednesday, October 01, 2003

OCCUPIER'S, VILLAGERS, AND AN AMBUSH'S RUBBLE In the aftermath of a six-hour firefight Monday, a visit Tuesday to this palm-studded village 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, West of Baghdad is an encounter with two different worlds: one inhabited by an occupying army at war with unseen guerrilla fighters who lay bombs on the roadside and shoot at foreign soldiers from the cover of citrus groves and stands of maize, and the other by Iraqi tribal families who were picking up the pieces of their shattered homes. IHT   1:33:25 PM    Permission To Speak Freely []

HOW TO RUIN A GREAT ARMY IN A SHORT TIME "Armies are fragile institutions, and for all their might, easily broken. It took the better part of 20 years to rebuild the Army from the wreckage of Vietnam. With the hard work of a generation of young officers, blooded in Vietnam and determined that the mistake would never be repeated, a new Army rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of the old, now perhaps the finest Army in history. In just over two years, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and his civilian aides have done just about everything they could to destroy that Army. How will they explain to history the mistakes that threaten to weaken a great nation even as it seeks ways to win the war on terrorism that it has declared?..." Miami Herald 1:31:05 PM    Permission To Speak Freely []