| Well, like I said, John, I had just seen him speak on C-Span. Was in a panel discussion at the Cato Institute. Yeah, I know, but it was a very sane panel. Dana Priest of the Wash Post was one of the other speakers. Anyway, Pape didn't sound like a Buchanan or a Mansfield to me. Nor did he sound like a Dahl. (yeah, I know all three of those guys.) I have to say, his suggested "solution" to the Iraq/Mideast problem didn't sound all that doable, but it probably is at least an element of what will be the ultimate solution. He suggests deploying a rapid ready force on ships off-shore in the Gulf, which gets people out of any individual country. I don't know, it isn't clear to me that our ships are that large or that even Marines would go for that. Plus there aren't any places to do exercises while waiting for action. Deploying in one or two of the relative peaceful and friendly Gulf States rather than one of the Big Three, plus perhaps a base in Israel's Negev seems to me to make more sense, and will get the troops more prepared for desert conditions. But, then, WTFDIK? |
