swatt@ittvax.UUCP (Alan S. Watt) (09/27/83)
>>>>> From tekecs!ariels: >>>>> Don't bet that there wasn't a massive PLO armoury in Beruit. It took over 48 hours of non-stop, bumper-to-bumper trucks filled to the brim with weapons to clear it out. My source for this was a soldier stationed in the Bekaa Valley. >>>>> Well, the first time I heard the story it was "the trucks were rolling non-stop for weeks to clear it out". My informant's source was also "a friend directly involved". Either the arms cache is getting smaller in the telling, or the Israeli transport command is getting more efficient. I suspect the Isreali military command started the story inside the army units knowing that once it was repeated enough it would seem to have the status of general knowledge. My Middle East geography is rusty, but I believe a soldier stationed in the Bekaa Valley is in a much better position to hear scuttlebut than to observe events in Beruit directly. Jacobo Timmerman in "The Longest War" specificly cites this claim as deliberate mis-information (i.e. "lie") by the Israeli government. There is little doubt the PLO had an armory somewhere, and Beruit is likely, but the claim of arms for a million is probably off by 2 orders of magnitude. - Alan S. Watt
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (09/30/83)
Since Israel is the third most powerful military nation in the world, according to the Stockholm Peace Institute, I hope the PLO has a large arms stockpile. They're going to need it.