BERNARD FALL

i love my nieces. but they are televidiots. i want to listen to chopin, schubert. and the great recording - wagner without words. and read.

today's book is a present to myself. dorothy fall's bio of her husband, bernard.

i am only starting it, but on pages 22-23, there is what i think to be an important reflection on "terrorism".

i think it may be a book we all need to read.

certainly, reflections on dien bien phu are timely now. for that is what the green zone in baghdad resembles.

for more on dbp, i recommend howard simpson's book. he was there.

and if you can ever find it, pierre schoendorffer's[sic] film, dien bien phu.

perhaps in the new year the reality of the us forces' entrapment and surrendering will occur. the finest gift santa could ever bring the usa.

prayerfully, the end of the illusion of empire.