20 March 2003

After I heard the news shortly before ten o'clock local last night I called my sons and told them it had begun. I told them to be alert, and I asked my younger boy to pass that along to his Mom.

The other shoe dropped. There is word this morning that three SCUDs flew into Northern Kuwait. Patriot missiles were fired against them. No word on whether they carried conventional high explosives or something wicked. I can't keep up with the news and won't try. This will play out however it does, ins'hallah. The first news said we tried to take out Saddam last night, choosing to avoid out signature whiz-bang in the night, catch them at Baghdad's Miller Time when they smiled and said we were not coming that night.

The media showed the streets of Baghdad quiet, an occasional rumble off in the distance. I am listening to the words of the Iraqi Information Ministry in translation this morning. They are calling for me to rise up against the Bush regime, a bizarre echo of the President's call to the Iraqi people three nights ago to overthrow Saddam.

It has begun, and as the old saying goes, "well begun is half done." The stock markets actually ticked up yesterday in relief that at last the die was cast. I wish I believed that. But I only know what I hear these days. I think about old General Shleifen knew how his plan to conquer the French in the First World War would play out. "Let the sleeve of the last man on the bright brush the English Channel!" he admonished his staff. They nodded in their high-collared uniforms, knowing they had an excellent plan. But they screwed it up, improvising the plan to accommodate operational realities.

The other shoe has dropped and I am fumbling around in the dark to find it. Perhaps the dawn will bring enough light to make things clear.

Copyright 2003 Vic Socotra