The whole Raytheon Presents The Gulf War Brought To You By Lockheed-Martin (c) is very confusing now. Every day until March 17th, you will hear “news” about progress on the diplomatic front. The reporters who will tell you the “real” message, have no clue what they are saying, as they don’t understand it either, but they have a 70 second news hole to fill and diplomats do not speak in comfy sound bites. So, take all reporting about diplomatic advances or failures with a 20 kilo bag of rock salt.
Here’s the simple goods: The US is building up troops. Britain is onside. France isn’t happy. Canada is as confused as ever. War may very well be imminent, against Iraq. (I figured I would remind you that its Iraq we’re going up against, as this keeps getting lost in there somehow.) The rest of it is dancing and debating about the number of Al-Samouds you can put on the end of a pin, which really doesn’t amount of a small hill of anything useful.
So to simplify:
A: Saddam Dead = Good.
B: Saddam in Exile = Good Enough.
C: Iraq People Free = Good.
D: Iraq Run by US = Bad.
E: Weapons of Mass Destruction = Bad.
F: WMD’s removed from Lunatic = Good.
G: War = Bad.
H: Peace = Good.
I: Terrorists On The Run = Good.
J: Terrorists On The Loose = Bad.
K: Osama Bin Laden Dead = Good.
L: Osama Bin Laden Alive = Bad.
M: How to get there = x
Solve for x
The Solution is G+A+C+F=x
Notice that there still is no solution for I, J, K and L. That is another problem that is being addressed and is making some advances, but is not solved yet. Notice there is nothing in the equation about diplomacy, the UN, or vetoes of the Security Council. Those are variables that you will be hearing a lot about in the next few days. Ignore them, unless they conclusively (as in Good or Bad, no grey in-betweens) fix the problem.
Your media is going to be filled with fluff for the next week and change. Please remember the essentials, if only to keep from being confused.
RoadDave 