
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310200125
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PATRICK A. McGUIRE THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TALK ABOUT FAILURES...

No list of great failures can ever be complete; there are just too many of them. But here is a list of bungled policies, plans and strategies that ought to put the ordinary, everyday failure into perspective.

Disappearance of NASA's $1 billion Mars Observer: Had it been a $500 million project, it might not top the list. There's just something magic about the word billion.

U.S. involvement in Vietnam: Look up failure in the dictionary and you'll see a map of Vietnam.

The Russian involvement in Afghanistan: Same thing with a Russian dictionary.

The 1980 failed rescue attempt of the American hostages in Iran: Jimmy Carter's most anguished hour.

Dennis Conner loses the America's Cup, 1983: Even winning it back didn't completely erase the stain of humiliation.

The Ford Edsel: Today it's a collectors' item; in 1959 it wasn't even an item.

The 23-game losing streak of the '88 Baltimore Orioles: Losing ugly took on new meaning.

Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, 1815: Should have stayed on Elba, Boney.

The Titanic, 1912: The unthinkable.

Movies: "Ishtar"; "Hudson Hawk," "Heaven's Gate": Sometimes less is more.

by CNB