[Illbay]

People make fun of the French, but afaik the only military success enjoyed by the Arabs was against the Turks in World War II--and that was ONLY because a young English Officer, T. E. Lawrence, was in command.

I can see why. These people have no more idea how to fight than the Plains Indians in the Nineteenth Century American West, who thought hitting a horse-soldier with a coup stick was the ultimate in bravery--then he got shot right off his horse.

[tomahawk]

You mean WW I of course, not WW II

[marktwain]

These people have no more idea how to fight than the Plains Indians in the Nineteenth Century American West, who thought hitting a horse-soldier with a coup stick was the ultimate in bravery--then he got shot right off his horse.

The plains Indians knew how to fight, and much better than this. Man for man, they were better than our cavalry. There just were not very many of them, and they did not have our logistics support. That doomed them. Eventually, all the smart one signed treaties or surrendered. There are probably more Indian genes in America today than there were in 1870. My kids have some of them.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

...the only military success enjoyed by the Arabs was against the Turks in World War II--and that was ONLY because a young English Officer, T. E. Lawrence, was in command....These people have no more idea how to fight than the Plains Indians in the Nineteenth Century American West, who thought hitting a horse-soldier with a coup stick was the ultimate in bravery--then he got shot right off his horse.

Agreed. Their apogee was reached during the Abbisad Caliphate (700-900 AD). Their decline since then has been truly remarkable -- they have fallen far more than did Roman civilization.

[LenS]

Well, the Arabs did chase the French out of Algeria. Which, come to think of it, explains why we mock the French. They're the only ones to lose to the Arabs in a millenium.