|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Chris Doss
||
|| Actually, everybody I know in Russia is of teh opinion that its just a
|| matter of time until the forces in Afgh. get slaughtered.
|| Considering that
|| the USSR took Afghanistann in something like two weeks to
|| cheering crowds
|| and a swiftly proclaimed victory. And then the Afghans started
|| fighting each
|| other. Sound familiar?
||
|| Chris Doss
|| The Russia Journal
|| ------------------
||
|| U.S. Said Making Same Mistakes in Afghanistan As USSR Did in Its Day
||
|| Rossiyskaya Gazeta
|| 19 February 2002
Rumsfeld's office of propaganda - which has been in operation from day 1 - has covered up even more body bags than those mentioned in the RG report. I remember a report of a large chopper downed in October. Pointdexter's appointment may mean Rumsfeld expects even more bad news, so he's beefing up his spin machine. One thing to look out for: The appointment of an intimidator like Ollie's Buck Revell to silence journalists through litigation.
Strangely, El Busho is encouraging Iran, by virtually declaring war against it, to end its cooperative efforts in Afghanistan (for which it was publicly thanked by Kofi Annan) and to provide military assistance to southern warlords so they can do some real damage. IOW the US is trying to sucker Iran into becoming the "sponsor" the story alludes to, like Papa Bush suckered Iraq. Not so strange after all, since the SOtU speech was teleprompted by AIPAC in the person of Wolfowitz. Piss off the Moslems so they do something stupid and give you the pretext for a massacre, is the time-honored Sharon formula.
I would surmise that Sharon is unhappy with the way the war quickly wound down in Afghanistan, cooling down the anti-Moslem frenzy. It would be in his interest to see renewed attacks against US targets there.
Hakki