Resist the Terror

Finally, we start to get serious . . .

I won't go into a big tirade about Afghanistan/Al Qaeda, since the few people who might actually read it already know pretty much what's going on. But the administration finally seems to have gotten serious, or almost serious, or almost-almost serious, about dealing with Al Qaeda there - and in Pakistan.

At least they've finally formally said it's OK to operate there.

Actually, they're just belatedly recognizing (part of) the reality. In truth, parts of the Pakistan army have been at war with America for several years. They've been firing on Americans for quite a while now.

Here's a story that actually has the balls to say what's going on there - first thing I've seen in the MSM that acknowledges that Pakistanis are attacking Americans:

Right at the Edge

By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: September 7, 2008

The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border. This is where the war on terror will be fought – and possibly lost.

Click here to read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07pakistan-t.html?ex=1378526400&en=d7b4e7009f1bf45c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Filkins' article will seem pretty pessimistic. There are a lot of people who will tell you he's not pessimistic enough.

It's funny: when I first started working on Leopards Kill - which was about two, maybe three years before it came out - I thought it would be old news by the time it was published, because surely we'd have woken up . . . more and more, it looks like a dark prophecy.

Talk, or you'll drinking Maxwell House from now on . . .


Who needs waterboarding when you have a Starbucks handy? Once they're hooked on lattes, they sing like canaries . . .

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it intends to bring capital murder charges against half a dozen men allegedly linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, based partly on information the men disclosed to FBI and military questioners without the use of coercive interrogation tactics.

The admissions made by the men -- who were given food whenever they were hungry as well as Starbucks coffee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- played a key role in the government's decision to proceed with the prosecutions, military and law enforcement officials said.

From the Washington Post story on the charges against the 9/11 Six. A little breathless, but what the hey - the guy probably needed a fresh jolt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?nav=rss_nation/special&sid=ST2008021101227