MAGINOT MINDS IN WASHINGTON GLOSS OVER THE TRUTH IN IRAQ
Tue Dec 28, 6:01 PM ET
By Georgie Anne Geyer
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On the eve of World War II, the French depended confidently upon their huge and famous Maginot Line. Its enormous defensive fortresses, created almost as a necklace of cities in themselves, lined the entire border between France and Germany -- this time, the Germans would never pass!
But all the Germans had to do was to march around through Belgium to invade France. By May 1940, the vaunted Maginot Line was pitifully useless against such innovative resolve.
Today in Iraq, American officials are having to face their own verbal and rhetorical Maginot Lines. Our "answer" has been that we can get out when Iraqi forces are trained, when elections are held, and when Iraqis themselves win back the country from the "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "guerrillas" (or whatever we finally determine they are).
But in only the last two weeks, American generals and civilian officials are, in fact, admitting that they have their own similar Maginot Line problems. In Mosul, the Iraqi police force has "faded away." American generals speak of a "virtual connectivity" of the insurgents never seen before, as they use the Internet to pass along techniques, tactics and advice to one another. American generals now admit that almost all of them are Iraqis; we have created the Iraqi terrorists who were not there before.
(more)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2205&ncid=742&e=14&u=/ucgg/20041228/cm_ucgg/maginotmindsinwashingtonglossoverthetruthiniraq