[patent]

I agree with the general. Whatever we fail to finish over there will rise up and attack us again. I know those who fail to recall history's lessons are doomed to repeat them, but seldom does the son get the chance to make the exact same foreign policy blunder the father did only a decade before. While I regret the loss of life over there, and while I would prefer to see the terrorists jailed than see them killed, sometimes, like here, there is little choice. We remove them or they will serve as a thorn in our side for the forseable future.

Once that is done we must give the Afghans something to live for, but it must be done first. There is no peace after a partial victory, only a brief calm while everyone reloads.

patent

[Askel5]

It's just I find it so ludricrous a former-Soviet actually believes some rinky-dink Taliban's gonna rise up and rival the Soviet-sponsored global network of terror cells already established of which OBL is just one major cog.

Of course his advice re: "finishing them off" seems sound. The only time such advice wouldn't seem sound is when Long-Range planners have something more devious in mind ... as with the continued use of Saddam.

But again ... the former Soviets have enjoyed thoroughly their ability to speak the truth of late. I rate this right up there with Chernomyrdin's "Bombs Rule Out Talks of Peace" NYT article upon the bombing of Serbia.

Fantastic stuff, really, which only underscores how magnificently they've trained us to chase our tail at will.

Not that we don't still place all our trust in the Dynasty's advisors, natch.