mahoney@bach.DEC (01/18/86)
---------------------Reply to mail dated 15-JAN-1986 19:09--------------------- > > So why doesn't the US attack Syria? Two reasons: > 1. We are scared to death of the USSR, because Reagan unwisely >chose to invest more in strategic weapons (of which there are already >plenty) and less in conventional deterrence. For this, the Soviet moles >in the cabinet and defense department can take well-deserved credit. >WITH GOOD REASON -- in anything short of nuclear confrontation, they can >crunch us, and they know we know it. Syria is closely allied with the >USSR, and an attack on her can be expected to call down a heavy Soviet >response. > >Oded Feingold MIT AI Lab. 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139 >OAF%OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA {harvard, ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mitvax!oaf 617-253-8598 Most of the Article that this came from I agreed with and found amusing. This part of it I tend to disagree with though. I agree that at the beginning of the war with the Soviets the would begin to win. There are some factors that would hinder a victory for them though. I believe that the US would eventually be the victor. One our industrial might is far superior to the Soviets and our equipment is also.(Even though it doesn't always appear that way). The reason we beat the Germans is that we out produced them we manufactured so much stuff that we flooded them with our goods. It came to the point that for every one German plane we shot down they had to get 100 of ours. For every one ship we sank they had to sink five of ours. The Germans could not compete. Two the US allies are a lot more dependable then are the Soviet Allies. Remember every European "Ally" except Bulgaria invaded the Soviet Union in WWII. The also have the problem of China the Chinese still think most of Siberia should be part of China and was stolen by the Soviet Union. And if you go on purely conventional war we have two oceans which make it pretty difficult to invade considering we have if not the largest one of the largest submarine forces in the world. Our Navy is also one of the best navies in the world. I believe in the long run the US would win any conventional war with the Soviet Union. The other thing that I disagreed with was that it seems you implied that the Soviet Union would use armed conflict to support Syria. The Soviet Union has never sent in men against the US. They will give weapons and monetary support but I doubt they would risk troops. Look at Korea, Vietnam and the numerous wars in the Mideast. They have never sent troops farther away then what is directly on their borders and I believe that will remain true. Brian Mahoney "The eternal optimist usually gets it in the end." mahoney%bach.dec@decwrl.arpa