Today in History: The Trojan Horse

Although they say you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, if it's large and wooden you may want to take a look inside its belly before pulling it into your city. According to Answers.com, April 24 is the date traditionally observed as the anniversary of this classic (literally) piece of war-time deception. If you don't know the story, you can get more details from the Trojan Horse article. The event that scholars date on 1184 BC was passed down through oral history and is recounted briefly in Homer's Odyssey and more expansively in Virgil's Aeneid.

While doing some Internet research on the subject, I found that both Homer's epics are available on line. If you have a spare moment or two, take a look at the full text of the Iliad and Odyssey.

Maybe George W has a similar piece of tactical genius up his sleeve to end the standstill in Iraq, but unfortunately he seems more apt to continue deceiving the folks at home that things are progressing apace (See the latest exposé on the Pentagon's propaganda machine: Government Challenged on Lynch and Tillman from the New York Times).