Well, they did get some things right, sort of... First off, Egype and Syria did have nearly total surprise when they attacked Israel. And they came damn close to winning the war in the first 36 hours. If not for the immediate support of the US, there was the possibility that Israel would have been overrun. After all, Israel is a tiny country. On the other hand, they also got some things totally wrong. First off, Yom Kippur is not the "Day of Forgiveness," but the "Day of Atonement," which completely changes the mission of the holiday. Secondly, Israel was able to muster their reserves, and mount a stunning counter attack on two fronts at once. They pushed the Egyptian army all the way back across the Suez canal, and crossed it themselves, capturing a huge number of Egyptian troops. Israel also pushed deep into Syria, stopping about 50 miles from Damascus, the capital. Israel was forced into agreeing to a ceasefire, when the USSR threatened to actively begin fighting the war. Let's face it: The middle east wars at the time had been proxy fights between the US and the USSR, and when the USSR threatened to beging fighting the war actively, the US had to put pressure on Israel to cease hostilities. Of course, it's a shame, because it did allow the arabs to get out with much of their military and honro in tact.
One of the main reasons that there hasn't been peace in the ME is because Israel has not been allowed to fight to total victory in the past.
Mark
Only few stuffs they got it right, yeap. There was though a U.S. vs. USSR escalation, a DEFCON III alert on October 1974. I thought it was the end of the world.