BO, If you recall, his original claim was to 15 or 20 miles of teritory. And it's only about 50 or 60 miles from border to Kuwait city. lib.utexas.edu
When he started, I'd imagine, in Washington they had no idea what he was up to, till he got to Kuwait city. For tanks, it would take couple hours to get there, so it does not give enough time to understand what's goin on (1 -2 hours, at least), make decision (1/2 hour), for planes to fly 2 or 300 miles, and do something.
But, it's another 2 -300 miles into SA, after QC. It would take another day or two, realistically (actually, more, for tanks) - plenty of time to decide (and it's obvious by then that he did not stop 20 miles from border), and to do things in the desert. Recall, there is always an Aircraft carrier group in/near the Gulf, and more (lots more) air/naval forces that can be moved close to there in a day or two. (but not in 1/2 hour)
At present, I'm sure there is enough watching and forces to prevent him from moving even to Kuwait city. And, he lost most his tanks. And, modern US planes/helicopters can fly circles around old Soviet tanks, as it turned out in the actual war. Their tanks, etc were partially safe only in hiding, when not moving, obviously.
Joe |
