General Norman Schwarzkopf privately has been harshly critical of the military performance of America's Arab allies. Using U.S. soldiers as the standard, he told Washington officials that only the Egyptian and Syrian armies displayed an adequate level of combat competence. But the general asserts that even the best Arab divisions were only about half as good as his own troops, who evidently rated a 10. The Soviet-trained Egyptian army, for example, was unable to adapt rapidly to fast-paced ground warfare. On one occasion Schwarzkopf had to request Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to order his troops into battle. Schwarzkopf also calls the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
