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Wilson's carefully hedged assurance that there is no intention to use force against Rhodesia is well founded in hard military facts. Many military experts believe Britain would have to airlift in at least three full brigades to subdue Rhodesia's small (12,000 regulars, 46,000 reserves) but well-trained army and police. But the loyalties of Rhodesia's armed forces are in doubt. A good percentage of Rhodesian enlisted men were recruited in Britain, and more than half of the nation's officers rose through the ranks of the British army. Whether they would obey orders actually to open fire against the Queen's men was a question that Smith, for one, hoped would never have to be answered. But an answer of sorts did come last week: three new recruits from Britain deserted Smith's national police, crossed into Mozambique, and were shipped back home as political exiles.
* As evidenced by the refusal of officials of Britain's Miss World contest last week to disqualify Lesley Bunting, Miss Rhodesia.