"This is Not Vietnam - the Allies Are Well on the Way to Victory"

In today's London Telegraph by military historian John Keegan:

Somewhere in my collection of First World War ephemera I have a picture postcard of Blackpool, sent on August 6, 1914, two days after the outbreak, which reads: "Dear Dot, All the trains have stopped, so we are staying until it is over."

The inability to read how military events are unfolding is not a new phenomenon. The writer of the postcard might be excused, however. In 1914 Britain had not been involved in a serious war for nearly 100 years.

The headless chickens whose cluckings and splutterings currently fill the media are more blameworthy. War has been their staple diet for much of their professional lives, but they seem to have made precious little effort to understand what they are paid to report. And in the age of rolling news, even the fair-minded are hampered by the scramble to react to the last reported event.

Yet, by disregarding the stimulus of television on the hour, it is perfectly possible to take a long-term view of events in Iraq. The secret is to rule a sheet of paper into double columns and put favourable factors into one, unfavourable factors into the other and strike a balance. The favourable factors outweigh the unfavourable by a considerable margin....

(Thanks, Bill.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 04/01/03 07:22:44 AM
Categorized as War.