| Good points, all. There is certainly no reason to portray Chirac's position as somehow purer than Blair's, and the extent of ongoing ties is rather appalling. Of course, during the first Gulf War, the Russians, though sort of on our side, retained a certain pride in having equipped and trained Iraqis, and gave dolorous, but somehow smug, assessments of the difficulty they would provide that coalition. In the event, Russian training was worthless to the regular forces, and we cut through them like a warm knife through butter. The special Iraqi forces were tougher, but clearly outclassed. This raised a question not unknown to American warplanners, which was whether the Warsaw Pact would have proven to have been a paper tiger, especially with the chance of massive defections, had we had a wholly conventional war in Europe. It is my belief, frankly, that the first Gulf War was the final nail in the coffin of the old Soviet Union, insofar as it indirectly lost its last shred of credibility as a military power. In a similar way, this last war is a benchmark: no one has a chance of prevailing against us in open conflict, except a coalition of forces we would never think of attacking anyway. I am sure that that is taken into account by North Korea, Iran, and Syria........ |
