Word: sand
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...only three still photographers in the Pentagon press pool, Brack has taken some of the most powerful photographs ever published of an army preparing for battle: a column of fresh-faced G.I.s striding purposefully into * the Saudi sands, a lone soldier trudging toward a tent sculpted to look like a sand dune and, in this week's issue, a muscular-looking F-15 Eagle fighter preparing for takeoff, fully armed and ready for business. Under the rules of the pool, all pictures taken by Brack must be shared with other U.S. newsmagazines and wire services; this explains why his work...
...discuss logistics. That is as true in the age of intercontinental missiles as it was in Napoleon's day. The hardest part of any war is moving fighting forces into the field and supplying their gargantuan needs. When the U.S. decided last week to draw "a line in the sand" of the Arabian Peninsula, it took on an immense logistical task. Keeping troops supplied with water in the desert's 120 degrees heat will be as vital as keeping them supplied with ammunition...
...assured of adequate water, fuel and munitions. In the desert a soldier normally consumes 6 gal. of water a day. For 50,000 men, that adds up to 2.1 million gal. a week. If ground troops were to storm off into the desert, the blistering temperatures and swirling sand would be as dangerous an enemy as the Iraqis...
...population pressures, which force people to work lands unsuitable for agriculture. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, settlers move into an area when it is wet and green, and then stay and remove the ground cover when the inevitable drought returns. Without a green barrier to stop them, sand dunes march inexorably forward...
...need to draw a line in the sand," says Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. General George Crist, who directed U.S. planning for defense of the Persian Gulf until he retired in 1988, agrees: "We have to show Saddam Hussein he can't take another step." The question is how. Freezing Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets and officially deploring Saddam's behavior are sensible first steps, but largely pro forma. More pressure will be required for Saddam to feel the bite...