1. The aliance armed forces start the war in Iraq. Everybody tells us there won't really be a war, the Iraqis won't fight, we'll be greated with flowers. And of course we'll show the world how many WMD Saddam has.
2. In fact the Iraqis fight pretty well and slow down the attackers, who are forced to leave large forces behind to guard the cities on the way to Bagdad. Aliance losses mount quickly. Recriminations begin beween the army commanders and the political leadership on who is to blame.
3. Third MD is at the suburbs of Bagdad. The soldiers are very tired, supplies are running low, there is no way they can storm a (supposedly) well-defended city. No fresh forces are expected any time soon. About a quarter of the helicopters are unusable (downed or damaged by enemy fire and desert conditions), supplies of precise weapons are running low.
4. Suddenly a number of our senior officials turn up in Moscow, including C. Rice. The Russian embassy in Bagdad is evacuated. Iraqi resistance diminishes and becomes negligible. C. Rice seems very happy, suddenly there are talks about Russia's importance in the region, about possible participation in the reconstruction of Iraq, about deliveries of Russian wheat to Iraq (what? a few years ago the Russians couldn't feed themselves!)
5. Why is Russia suddenly so important? What did the Russians do in their embassy during the war? What did they take out of Iraq that was so important to us that we risked killing their ambassador?
2. In fact the Iraqis fight pretty well and slow down the attackers, who are forced to leave large forces behind to guard the cities on the way to Bagdad. Aliance losses mount quickly. Recriminations begin beween the army commanders and the political leadership on who is to blame.
3. Third MD is at the suburbs of Bagdad. The soldiers are very tired, supplies are running low, there is no way they can storm a (supposedly) well-defended city. No fresh forces are expected any time soon. About a quarter of the helicopters are unusable (downed or damaged by enemy fire and desert conditions), supplies of precise weapons are running low.
4. Suddenly a number of our senior officials turn up in Moscow, including C. Rice. The Russian embassy in Bagdad is evacuated. Iraqi resistance diminishes and becomes negligible. C. Rice seems very happy, suddenly there are talks about Russia's importance in the region, about possible participation in the reconstruction of Iraq, about deliveries of Russian wheat to Iraq (what? a few years ago the Russians couldn't feed themselves!)
5. Why is Russia suddenly so important? What did the Russians do in their embassy during the war? What did they take out of Iraq that was so important to us that we risked killing their ambassador?
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