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Arabian Naughts
The Pentagon's cartoonish denial of the obvious
Jeff Taylor

At the height of the Vietnam War NBC's Banana Splits kids' show featured fifteen-minute cartoon episodes of the Arabian Knights. The premise was that after the evil sultan Bakaar forced his way into Baghdad and deposed Prince Turhan, Turhan took to the hills and caves outside the capital to fight the forces of Bakaar. To Turhan's acrobatic skills were added the strength of a giant, the spells of a wizard, a shapeshifter, the Princess Nida's gift for disguise, and a donkey that went absolutely ape-shit when you pulled on its tail. As yet, U.S. forces in Iraq have yet to confront any foes so imaginatively armed, but Pentagon descriptions of the fighting are proving almost as fanciful. Were it not for the very real death and pain involved in the subject matter, Pentagon briefings might even rate as entertaining. ...