| (CBS)
Eric Engberg recently retired after a long career as a correspondent for
CBS News. He did the “Reality Check” feature on The CBS Evening News and
on CBSNews.com. Now, believe it or not, this hard-bitten American reporter
is putting his money on Frisbees to win the war. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this stage of a war, when it is vital to quickly secure the support of the vast majority of the indigenous population, Washington and the Central Command should adopt a simple while counter-intuitive slogan: "Tanks are good but Frisbees are better." The pictures shown on American television last week of laughing Iraqi children catching Frisbees thrown by U.S. soldiers in an armored column rolling toward Baghdad were more than a brief, happy tableau amidst the destruction and killing of war. Those video images of prancing children and colorful plastic saucers -- far more than any pictures of coalition combat force -- are the key to the next phase of this war. In my safe retirement seat far from the action, I could not tell if the Frisbee tossing from the M-1 tanks and armored personnel carriers was spontaneous or planned. If it was planned, they should make the planner a general and give him carte blanche to organize the final takeover of Baghdad. I offer this "Frisbee First" because the next phase of this war to bring a decent government to Iraq will resemble a political campaign more than a straightforward military operation. The U.S. and its coalition partners need to convince the Iraqi people, beaten down by three decades of one of the worst fear machines in modern history, that we are there as saviors (or at least helpers) not conquerors. More... Go to full story ! |