Jacko, I'm prompted to contribute because at last we agree about something; Jeremy Bowen
is the pits. (But try John Simpson's latest book, A Mad World, My Masters. He actually met OBL who was upset because he couldn't kill him.)
But the two campaigns can't be compared because the objectives are entirely different. The Kosovo objectives were:
http://www.kosovo.mod.uk/account/objectives.htm
Quite specifically aimed at one man - Milosevic.
The War Against Terrorism has got to be done at a quite different pace because this is only the beginning of a very long war - not against a Nation but against the organisations that it and other Nations harbour. That the winter will make the task harder and costlier in humanitarian terms is tragic but there is no alternative. Blair's answer in the HOC on today's TV was brilliant. But it's easy to be brilliant when there is only one option and all but a very few agree with you.
I, also, believe that there should be wider involvment and don't know why NATO hasn't been called on yet. Maybe it's because the theatre is not target rich, as has been said, so there is probably no need yet for more Air Power. But there could be more for the battlefield support people to do once the surface campaign starts.
And, as I write the Canucks are on their way and even Japan is looking to re-mobilise to join the struggle.
Success in this war won't be signalled by the signing of a surrender document nor by the arrest of one man. We won't know it's been won until we realise gradually that we can go back to a life with freedom of movement without fear.
Now this isn't the stuff of neatly wrapped Staff Papers or magazine articles. And there has never been a war like this before so there are certain to be mistakes. But we won't know what they were until much, much later - with the benefit of hindsight.
[ 18 October 2001: Message edited by: fobotcso ]