aaaand one more: Ozzie Journalist Mick Ware

[Jenne]

http://www.mickware.info/

Dude has been kidnapped 3 times in Iraq, been in Afghanistan until recently, and now is down in Mexico for the drug wars.  Yes, saw him on Maher as well, and damn, I think ol' Bill is right:  dude has a deathwish.

Nonetheless, he said something I find very fucking interesting:  that the Talibs, Pakistan and the US are (get this) getting ready to sit down to negotiate.  He says it's a "slow boil" if that is going to come to pass, but he's right--this thing AIN'T going to be won with bullets, tanks and bombs.  NOT in Afghanistan.  And Pakistan (I called this YEARS ago--like 2 of them, I think) is the KEY to winning this thing.  Again, NOT Afghanistan.

Fucking fascinating shit.  I wish they would've gotten to the drug wars in Mexico with Ware, but I'll be looking up and waiting for his take on it.

[Cain]

Secret negotiations with the Taliban have likely been ongoing since 2007 or so.  Sure, every government in the world says they refuse to negotiate with terrorists...but that's bullshit to appeal to the flag-waving crowd.  How do people think we flipped the alleigance of the Awakening Councils in Iraq?  Sure, bags of money and arms and the sectarian aims of outsiders like Zaqawi helped...but at the end of the day, we'd had contact with the Sunni insurgents from the Iraqi elections onwards.

[Jenne]

Right.  I guess the only thing that makes it "shocking" to the general population at large is the fact that we do in all reality just keep all channels open.  The bullshit being sold that "we don't negotiate with terrorists" is just that.  So if you're politically naive enough to believe that, then this sort of thing is an eye-popper. 

What I liked was that he was stating, unequivocally, that war with Afghanistan (which seems to be some fucked up bailiwick of Obama's) isn't going to solve shit.  Getting Pakistan to recognize it's fighting in Afghanistan against NATO and the US because it fears India, and then negotiating on that behalf, will.  You just don't hear that enough in the US mass media.

[Cain]

There is more debate in government circles now on Afghanistan then there has been....well, ever, really.  Bush was a highly incompetent administrator, he valued group loyalty over judgement and experience, and as a consequence, no-one ever offered advice outside of the strict conventions of Rumsfeld's Revolution In Military Affairs hardon.

So if they haven't mentioned it yet, someone soon will.

[Jenne]

Ugh.  Rummy.  What an asswipe. 

Afghanistan...well, it depresses me.