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The game isn't quite the same.

Thanks for the ping...as always Churchill is a great read.

As for the impending conflict...I'm apprehensive as I was before Desert Storm.
I dreaded the thought that our generally untested military, equipped with these
whiz-bang weapons developed starting with Jimmy Carter/Sec.Def Brown were
going to be total duds...and our forces would be caught naked and undefended,
bleeding in the sand.

As formidable as the Afghanistan fighters and the terrain is, and the drubbing
the USSR/Russia took...I feel some reason for optimism.

1. "Adults" are running the show...this is what James Webb said in giving a generally
optimistic forecast of the coming campaign.
2. We learned from what happened in Kuwait/Iraq.
3. We know all about the actual weapons (we gave a lot of them to them) and tactics used.
(from all the Russians officers living in the USA now).

And
4. The Afghans haven't yet dealt with a military equipped with stealth technology
in terms of planes, bombs that can be guided by lasers, and relatively large numbers of
infantry soldiers that can travel throughout the night with night-vision goggles and
rifles.

I will be shocked if this is over in less than 2-3 years, but if I were bin Laden
or any Afghani, I'd play it safe:
Don't go outside during the day.
Don't go outside at night.
And start praying hard on nights without any moonlight.

Just my naive thoughts...I welcome opinions that might correct any defects in
my ruminations.

Actually, my secret plan for the campaign would be to subdue an area of Kabul,
bring in the SeaBees and have them construct a couple of city blocks with indoor
plumbing, flush toilets, phones and 25" televisions, with cable/satellites.
Then capture a couple hundred Afghanis and "imprison" them there with
food from McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.

Once they figured out what they'd been missing, they'd be asking for chance to
execute their Taliban overlords and Osama.

(OK, it's a dream, but I do have the faith that inside most people who hate the USA
is simply the desire to have our creature comforts.)