Listening to the BBC this morning I heard General Schwartzkopf say, “Saddam promised us the mother of all battles. What he got was the mother of all defeats.”

The Muslims called The Prayer woke me this morning. The roosters helped open my eyes. The overhead fan called the room slightly and I pulled back to the mosquito netting to go to the window. Palu was still asleep. There seems to be no sense of urgency in this town, the largest in the North. My bus to Lake Poso leaves midday

Later

The bus left an hour late. Basically on time. I had a window seat. The scenery was thick jungle. The Villages small. The people few. The passengers stood i took up enough room for two people. I smoke kretek cigarettes to help me staring out the window. This morning I cashed to Travelers checks there’s no place to cash and further up and I’m crossing over the mountains across the lake and then down to the to the Eastern Plains of Sulawezi before heading up to Tana Torajah land. It’s a long ride, but I have, a thriller about LA lowlifes, The Cross Killer by Marcel Montecino.

There are no English newspapers in this part of the world or even the Jakarta Post. The BBC is my only source of information. I love hearing the Chimes of Big Ben bang out the hour “This is the BBC Greenwich Mean Time.” it certainly is comforting to hear that this far away from everything.

The Saddam regime is showing cracks in the Shiite country in the south. Insurgents took advantage of the route in Kuwait. Saddam has gained Nothing by that invasion and even less but not agreeing to terms.. This defeat is good for the Iranians and Syrians, who can now focus on National problems rather than the threat from Saddam. Saddam’s first son supposedly was killed. Whatever this war will prove, there was no Vietnam. There’s no Hanoi Jane no MIAs, no Mayday demos, there’s a plane shoot him up in the Gulf moving that air powers isn’t everything, but no air power is nothing

I’m about halfway through writing THE BEST IS YET to COME. I’ll stay in Rantepao to finish the screenplay and then head down to udon for Don to catch a flight to Bali and meet Corinne coming in from Paris.