[speaker001:] All right, uh, I, I would like to talk about, just briefly [throat clearing] What happened over there in Saudi Arabia in the political context. I think it's, uh, refreshing to see the, uh, the support that the President got from the American people.
[speaker002:] Yeah, it, we, I, I read an interesting article in the paper that discussed, uh, that, uh, seemed that every other time a President tried to get support for an action like, uh, uh, President Carter and his thing with the, the hostage crisis,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] and he always did it through rhetoric.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And this time President Bush did it through action and he,
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] he drove policy by the course he took and almost forced public support,
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] or, uh, I mean, he left almost no alternative.
[speaker001:] That's right [throat clearing].
[speaker002:] And, and it was very interesting how he did it and, uh, I mean, I'm, I'm an Air Force Officer, so it, uh,
[speaker001:] Really.
[speaker002:] it was interesting for me, uh, you know, I'd certainly, uh, I, I mean I think it's great that all the support. I have, uh, friends of mine from the Air, I'm, I'm an engineer and work in the Rolm Laboratory,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] but other engi-, guys here on base, this is a B fifty-two base where I work, so,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] we had about a thousand people gone from the base that went over there and they're getting a tremendous amount of support out of it.
[speaker001:] That's great, um, if, if you remember, the vote in the Congress to authorize war, if necessary, was actually pretty close.
[speaker002:] Yes it was.
[speaker001:] And if, if my memory serves me right, I believe a majority of Democrats may even have opposed it, it, it was,
[speaker002:] Yeah, I'm, I don't know the exact figure but I, I would imagine that because of the, how close the, the vote was I'm, {F uh, I mean } almost certainly would have to be. Just based on the sheer numbers of, uh, the disparity of, [cough] excuse me, Democrats and Republicans in Congress he'd think that it would have to have been, um.
[speaker001:] That's right.
[speaker002:] And, uh, I, I gosh this, uh, this whole thing now with all the, uh, all the political cartoons on the Democrats and how they're, uh, uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] they're in, in a sad way for ninety-two now in terms of the presidential election, anyway.
[speaker001:] Especially the ones that came out and said, oh come on guys, let's talk about this little while longer.
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean how many years are we going to wait and, and what, what do you do with the people that are over there in the mean time.
[speaker002:] Right, right, I think that was, all those factors played a part in, you know, uh, the,
[speaker001:] No doubt.
[speaker002:] everyone was discussing whether we should, uh, wait longer, but, I, I, I know that there's a lot of reasons to wait longer but I think we were genuinely concerned about how, their military capability and we, uh, I think we over estimated it, but still,
[speaker001:] I think so too.
[speaker002:] we were really, highly concerned about it and, that we were worried that they were getting dug in and, uh.
[speaker001:] Well they were,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and in fact they were so well dug in that, uh, when we sent our tanks around behind them they couldn't get turned around in time.
[speaker002:] Right, they couldn't, yeah they couldn't, yeah, it's true they, Saddam thought he had the whole thing, uh, figured out to, to which way we were coming and which, what, what our doctrine was that, uh,
[speaker001:] Well, had, had we done a frontal assault it probably would have worked more to his favor.
[speaker002:] That's right, that's true. That's interesting, I think, uh, this political situation over there now is, uh, uh, it'll be interesting to see what comes out of it whether the, this opposition will, uh, uh, today the Turks, uh, agreed to support the Kurds, which is something they've never done before and, uh. *needs slash
[speaker001:] Um, interesting.
[speaker002:] And, uh, this, *% and the Israelis, uh, and not the Israelis but the Arabs all of a sudden are, uh, are cheering for Baker on his drive for, to reconcile relations with the Israelis, so it's like [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] Well, Baker is really not very much pro Israel.
[speaker002:] Yeah I,
[speaker001:] And did you know John Sununu is, uh, half Arab?
[speaker002:] No, uh, I, I think I did hear that at one time a long time ago,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] because I used to live in, uh, Massachusetts, but, uh,
[speaker001:] Right, in, in fact, when he was Governor of New Hampshire, I believe.
[speaker002:] Yeah, New Hampshire.
[speaker001:] Okay. I believe he was the only one of fifty governors that voted against some kind of resolution of support for Israel a few years back.
[speaker002:] Oh my gosh.
[speaker001:] And, uh, now he is a conservative, but he is not a conservative that favors Israel,
[speaker002:] Uh.
[speaker001:] and that, that concerns me greatly.
[speaker002:] Well, I don't, yeah, I'd certainly, uh, support Israel in, in their, their policy that in defending themselves and in, uh, in their handling of their foreign policy, I think, I think the stand they have, or, or the way the command respect, I, I support that. I think that is a, a positive thing for them after, um, uh, thousands of years, they have to, uh, they ha-, I think they in, when they be-, became a country they more than, or, more or less decided they weren't going to take it anymore, and, uh.
[speaker001:] Well, they didn't have much choice, they could either fight or die.
[speaker002:] Yeah, exactly, exactly and, uh, um, so, gee, I lost my train of thought here. But, uh, um, so, okay so I can't say whether that, that I'm pro Israel or anti Israel. I mean, I'd like to see them resolve something in that situation and get some stability in the region and looks uh, that the joining of forces for this, uh, uh, Desert Shield and Desert Storm thing ended up being a positive thing.
[speaker001:] It is a positive thing, um, however, uh, every time an organization such as the P L O says well we'll see if we can work with Israel, then, uh, they get embarrassed some, every few months by documents that reveal that their ultimate purpose is to totally eliminate them.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And so you, you basically have, uh, mutually exclusive interests, either Israel is going to occupy the area, or the Arabs are going to occupy the area and I'm just not sure that, that there's going to be any easy permanent solution.
[speaker002:] Yeah, somebody's going to, and I think that's the problem the P L O has is that when they, whenever one group of them decides that they're going to negotiate, or they're going to do something, they're going to try to make some peace, but, uh, the end result is that they, there so many factions of them and, uh, some more violent than others, some with a certain agenda different than the others, or they split, they end up being, becoming divisive themselves.
[speaker001:] Exactly.
[speaker002:] Uh, I, it's interesting,
[speaker001:] It is.
[speaker002:] I, I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over there in the next couple of months, but, uh, that's,
[speaker001:] Yeah, I, I commend Israel for their restraint in not responding to the Scud attacks.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I know, that, that is almost, I mean that's absolutely unprecedented that was,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] an, an incredible foreign policy coup on the part of the President and the State Department.
[speaker001:] Exactly, exactly.
[speaker002:] And that, I mean that's never happened before,
[speaker001:] No.
[speaker002:] and I don't know if it will ever happen again but,
[speaker001:] May not. Well it's been fun, I enjo-, enjoyed talking with you.
[speaker002:] Yeah, okay, uh, I guess, uh, well maybe the computer will pair us up together another time.
[speaker001:] You never know.
[speaker002:] All right.
[speaker001:] Bye, bye.
[speaker002:] Bye, bye.