but you forgot my Buddhas!

I have no idea what I was thinking.

You are right. Freedom of religion is also not free. That is why the Taliban had to blow up those big ugly-looking stone guys ("World Heritage Site" sounds like a black helicopter op to me, good riddance!).

It is also why burqas must be banned, because nothing says, "Respect for les droits d'homme" like telling someone she can't wear whatever she wants...

... or why burqas must be obligatory, for exactly the same reason.

And it is why, in the words of that conquistador, we must simply "kill them all — God will know his own."

together with adnoto - to make sure we get a decent health care plan on the table when Obama comes back from the pope - but nope (hey it rhymes) - you are a.... No I never would say anything bad about you because I still hope one day you are going to come through - --

I believe you will receive some insight into your questions by reading this informative column -

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905f.asp (or click sig)

It won't answer all of your questions, but it's a good starting point. One of the first things you'll notice, perhaps, is that there is no need to put quotes around the word 'crime'.

Although it is fair to say that the author does have a distinct perspective, this column sets out a clear and level-headed analysis, for which reasons I highly recommend it.

No I never would say anything bad about you because I still hope one day you are going to come through - --

I'm trying my best to get Mily Cyrus, I mean Hannah Montana, to do a show in Germany. I know how happy that would make you. I didn't accidentally spoil her secret identity for you did I?

i wouldn't have gone quite that far but what about inviting this omar dude next time to Michael Jacksons memorial and teach him about "Idols'!

Glad to hear it's your last word. You actually do know where the world's heroin comes from and no, I did not err. The ban resulted in not planting for one growing season. It resulted in a huge decrease in opium growing, but no one destroyed the stocks of opium or heroin, which were largely in the possession of the Taliban and the trafficking network. Just prior to the ban, the U.N. was reporting that 70% of the worlds heroin production was coming from Afghanistan, 96% grown on Taliban controlled land. Unless the years in Afghanistan have growing seasons of 1.5 years, you're still blowing smoke.

But that's okay. Believe whatever makes your little dreams of a big CIA-led Empire with its boot on the neck of a nation and the wonderful Taliban anti-heroin program. The Taliban lifted the ban on September 26, 2001, it didn't end because anyone was driven from power. (you know, that U.S. invasion of 350 people into a country of 14 million, one of the most massive invasions since D-Day).

I never figured you as a fan of Mily - But what do I know - in the end Amity has a autographed picture of Celine Diong on her wall!

Cheers for the link. He's quite a dab hand at the old quill & paper game when he puts his mind to it our Matthew Parris:

"It’s important not to understand. It’s important not to learn. In the total buggeration into which the world’s help for Afghanistan has now descended, it’s important not to know too much. Accept that somebody some day may understand, but it isn’t going to be you. Somebody some day may grab the Gordian knot and cut it, but it isn’t going to be us. Know only that. To know more is to know less."

Now every time I read about Afghanistan I curse the likes of ondellette. Here is what gave me my two minute ondellette hate this morning. The utter meaninglessness of it all astounds, it simply astounds:

Tale of two boy soldiers who joined up together: Barely 18, on their first day of action in Afghanistan, still together, one was wounded, the other killed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198664/Tale-boy-soldiers-joined-Barely-18-day-action-Afghanistan-wounded-killed.html

I remember being in Palestine when the Taliban blew up the buddhas. Someone remarked to me how silly it was that the Taliban had been abusing and oppressing the population of Afghanistan for years while the world had been mostly silent. But blowing up the buddhas, yeah, that was TOO MUCH!

Sorry, I should have said close to 30 million. The invasion was more massive than I thought.

- they come in quite handy if you spent each year a few month in a Egypt or Jordan - And if you like I sent you a picture with my autograph - you could hang besides Celine!

I think you mean, "words of that Crusader."

http://crusades-encyclopedia.com/arnaudamaury.html

Though, doubtless, many conquistadors and others have said similar things over the past few thousand years, as an expression of military zeal or religious devotion.

Good one, and in the spirit that I was ribbing rmp.

Congrats.

But I notice you were silent about yesterday's bombing. 13 school children blown up in cold blood. Not even the excuse of being at 30,000 feet. Looking right at them and pushing the button. Not one single troop. 4 policemen, 8 civilian onlookers, and 13 children, crowded around an overturned truck. 3 school children are missing.

Eric Rudolph and you go way back? That was his style.

All the suicide bombings are as result of the war WE started. Now as you seem to be a self described Afghan hand perhaps you could tell me what evidence there is that al Quida was involved with 9/11. You see I keep looking but I can't find any at all.

War is not an activity that can ever be constructive. No war ever has a positive outcome. The big problem with war arises when people try to convince themselves that this time will somehow go otherwise.

It's kind of like an oil spill. Only an insane person would go around saying, "Hey, everyone, let's have an oil spill, I promise, it will be clean, and surgical, and it will be over quickly with no adverse consequences."

If it were oil, we would think that person was crazy. For some reason thougth, when it's war, we're willing to consider their argument.

On the other hand, only an insane person would say, "Hey everyone, this oil spill is a huge mess, it's not right that we should be cleaning it up since after all it's our oil-driven industrial system that made it inevitable." Sometimes, just because it's dirty and just because it's your fault doesn't mean you can just abdicate responsibility.

What would make that person even more insane was if they were the same person who, 20 years ago, was insisting that we had no business getting involved in oil-spill prevention, back before any of this had happened. If they said, "We have no right to go around meddling in how people design tankers, if they want them single-hulled then we should stay out of it," and now they're complaining about the oil spill...

...Well, you might get so annoyed, you'd want to rub their faces in it.

Just a little.

So when we talk about the Afghan war, and whether ondelette is a war-mongering fascist, or if the CIA is behind it all, or if we should keep mucking around until everything is cleaned up... I suggest this little rule of thumb.

Nobody is in control. Nobody. And no matter what we do, it can never be clean. It can never be the way it was. A hundred years from now we'll still be seeing the effects of today's damage. The only thing to ask ourselves is: are the things we're doing curbing the disaster, or spreading it further?