From: "Phil Payne" 

> "Now the Mussolini syndrome is at work over Iran. All the symptoms are
> present, including tabulated lists of Iran's warships, despite the fact
> that most are over 30 years old; of combat aircraft, many of which
> (F-4s, Mirages, F-5s, F-14s) have not flown in years for lack of spare
> parts; and of divisions and brigades that are so only in name. There are
> awed descriptions of the Pasdaran revolutionary guards, inevitably
> described as "elite," who do indeed strut around as if they have won
> many a war, but who have actually fought only one—against Iraq, which
> they lost. As for Iran's claim to have defeated Israel by Hizbullah
> proxy in last year's affray, the publicity was excellent but the
> substance went the other way, with roughly 25 per cent of the
> best-trained men dead, which explains the tomb-like silence and
> immobility of the once rumbustious Hizbullah ever since the ceasefire."

"From my lodgings in the Vatican ..." - the famous appraisal of
the state of the English fleet that helped convince Philip II.

You will be as wrong about Iran as you were about Iraq - except now you're
facing Persians.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5