Comments Posted By chris
Displaying 131 To 140 Of 204 Comments
FRANCE SURRENDERS: ISRAEL TO FIGHT ON
If you think they'll have the Litani in 30 days (with the ability to deploy a peacekeeping/making force), I have some nice condos on the moon I'd like to sell to you.
But, you are right about the French.
Comment Posted By Chris On 9.08.2006 @ 12:35
FAIR IS FAIR: IDF BRINGS SHAME TO ITSELF
I have to agree with the sentiment that Israel needs to win the propaganda war. Since Arab culture is based on honor and shame, Hezbollah and the like play up their "heroic resistance" in the face of Zionist aggression, Israel has to humiliate them in order to diminish their appeal to the local audience.
It is unfortunately true that Israel will be damned no matter what, and I would also think that they understand their opponents and the locale better than us. Remember how stupid we all thought it was that Saddam claimed he won the Gulf War when he got his clock cleaned? And yet his ridiculous claim to be a lion was largely accepted in the area because he had stood up to the Great Satan and survived.
Maybe we should be asking them for advice instead of criticizing them.
Comment Posted By Chris On 7.08.2006 @ 19:39
BUSH & ISRAEL: SHOULDER TO SHOULDER, HIP TO HIP
Hamas, Hezbollah and al Qaeda are very, very different in their ambitions. Their cruel and terrible tactics are the same, but their strategy is different. This clueless president is running the risk of uniting their strategy, for a time, to our deep regret.
Comment Posted By Chris On 3.08.2006 @ 15:21
Sometimes all of your choices are bad ones. The Israelis have chosen what they feel is the least bad option for them in this case. A sovereign state cannot be expected to tolerate cross-border acts of war to be launched on it's territory and still claim to be able to protect it's own people, which is the primary responsibility of any polity.
Ironically, this only points out that Lebanon is not a sovereign state. Almost everyone who is not an idiot feels sorry for the Lebanese people, including me. What is happening to them is unfair, but it is happening nonetheless, and their inability to compress the time frame needed to firm up their own sovereignty (granted, this was next to impossible) has contributed to Israel's response.
Sometimes it just sucks to be you.
Comment Posted By Chris On 21.07.2006 @ 14:17
Unfortunately not all of us are going to be "surprised"... Just the policy makers.
Comment Posted By Chris On 20.07.2006 @ 15:56
Rick, outstanding analogy and a great post. I don't think Sadr controls as much as it might seem.
The history of violent revolutions / civil wars starts on a small scale, with radicals, and the leaders seldom control the initial phases.
Comment Posted By Chris On 11.07.2006 @ 12:52
Lee's wagon train of wounded stretched for ten miles. They were screened by what was left of his army. The man in charge of the train was Colonel Imboden, who hailed from Ansted, Virginia (now West Virginia). His house was less than half a mile from my grandmother's and is still standing to this day, now a tourist attraction. Stonewall Jackson's mother also lived in Ansted.
Comment Posted By Chris On 4.07.2006 @ 09:19
More misery - I hear that a family that lives on Culp Hill has split over the war. Rumor has it that the boy with the Rebs is at the base of the hill, trying to take it. It would be typical of this war if he were to be killed in sight of his own home.
Comment Posted By Chris On 2.07.2006 @ 13:29
I hear that Bobby Lee is spitting mad that Ewell didn't advance, but he has himself to blame in this case. He issued orders to his corps commanders to press the situation if they thought it advisable. Ewell is new to the job, and cautious to boot. If Lee wanted him to advance, then he should have ordered a pursuit.
Thank God that Stuart is off running around the Army of the Potomac again, polishing his legend instead of screening and recon. Good cavalry isn't worth a damn if it's not around.
Buford is the man. I just hope all this stress doesn't take it's toll on him down the road. I also heard that Abner Doubleday did yeoman's work holding his flank together. I'd hope that he gets rewarded, but that's probably too much competence to hope for from our leadership.
Comment Posted By Chris On 1.07.2006 @ 21:00
I enjoyed those posts immensely. You have a talent for transporting the reader into the event, no small feat. I am looking forward to a repeat performance.
Comment Posted By Chris On 27.06.2006 @ 15:43
