Even when John Mallett was sin-binned for the second time in two weeks, this time for punching, Castres failed to make their numericalsuperiority count.
Absent the certainty that an attack on the South would immediately and significantly engage U.S. troops, it is far from clear that the North would be dissuaded from exploiting its numericalsuperiority over its neighbor to the South.
Anti-terrorism experts told BBC News Online that they were surprised at the ease with which three of the four attackers were able to escape from the Oasis compound in Khobar, despite the overwhelming numericalsuperiority of the security forces and the tactical and logistical advantages which they enjoyed.