What has it got in its pocketses?
A couple of stolen items.
First, this link, stolen from r@d@r at Ex-Lion Tamer.
Second: William Gibson posts the following on his website – which he stole, first.
” Initiating preflight check…”
- Cabal of oldsters who won’t listen to outside advice? Check.
- No understanding of ethnicities of the many locals? Check.
- National boundaries drawn in Europe, not by the locals? Check.
- Unshakable faith in our superior technology? Check.
- France secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
- Russia secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
- China secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
- SecDef pushing a conflict the JCS never wanted? Check.
- Fear we’ll look bad if we back down now? Check.
- Texan in the WH? Check.
- Land war in Asia? Check.
- Rightists unhappy with outcome of previous war? Check.
- Enemy easily moves in/out of neighboring countries? Check.
- Soldiers about to be dosed with our own chemicals? Check.
- Friendly fire problem ignored instead of solved? Check.
- Anti-Americanism up sharply in Europe? Check.
- B-52 bombers? Check.
- Helicopters that clog up on the local dust? Check.
- Infighting among the branches of the military? Check.
- Locals that cheer us by day, hate us by night? Check.
- Local experts ignored? Check.
- Local politicians ignored? Check.
- Local conflicts since before the USA has been a country? Check.
- Against advice, Prez won’t raise taxes to pay for war? Check.
- Blue water navy ships operating in brown water? Check.
- Use of nukes hinted at if things don’t go our way? Check.
- Unpopular war? Check.
“Vietnam II, you are cleared to taxi.”
April 1st, 2003 at 6:57 am
Ha ha, you fool! You’ve fallen victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia”, but only slightly less well known is this – “Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!”