December 28, 2001

Saddam, the birds, the hobbits, the Guardian, and me

Family responsibilities, Blogger and other technical difficulties, and a bit of holiday laziness have all contributed to a slower pace in re: unleashing the blogs of war. Apologies for that. I suspect the pace may slow a bit more when we arrive at the new HQ in deepest, darkest, Norfolk in a few days. You can't always get a television signal, and the phone situation is a bit erratic; newspapers can even be a bit scarce. I'm planning to do my best (which is not as trivial a plan as it may seem) to keep up with the world outside, but just in case I fail, and anything big happens and you don't see it posted here, it's probably because I remain blissfully unaware of it in my rustic cocoon. In such an event, I'd appreciate someone dropping me a line to let me know about it.

For instance, it appears that we now have a plan to topple Saddam, Taleban-style. There are those who argue that it will be too difficult, though it seems to me probable that the Iraqi regime is considerably weaker than how professional worst-case scenario-spinners tend to portray it. Anyway, it seems like a good idea, and pretty swell plan, as outlined in the Guardian:

a force of about 5,000 INC fighters wouldcross into Iraq from Kuwait and seize a deserted airbase near Basra, tempting Saddam to send his crack Hammurabi tank division to the south, where it would be a sitting duck for US bombers.

But haven't we lost the valuable element of surprise here? Or perhaps this is just a bit of disinformation to throw them off the real plan, like Patton's ghost army. Let's hope so. I'm pretty sure Saddam reads the Guardian, despite the presumable substitution of jackboots for sandals.

See what I mean? While I'm communing with the hobbits, the birds and other wildlife of the rural wonderland, chopping wood, foraging for this and that, building snow monkeys and all that, I could completely miss Desert Storm II. That may be the price you have to pay for the simple country life.

Posted by Dr. Frank at December 28, 2001 06:49 AM | TrackBack