Eggs Laid by Tigers

The assessment was written before the recent presidential and district elections in Afghanistan. I don't know if there has been an update following . There is no president of Afghanistan until the election is decided, because of a quirk in Afghanistan's constitution, and it may be a while before Karzai is confirmed, for I'm assuming he is, from our perspective, venal enough to have assured his reelection. [Of course, from his perspective,a nd perhaps fro New Jersey's, he's just being a dutiful Pashtun, following the dictates of pashtunwali.]

McChrystal' main point: The Taliban should be defeated, and it should and will be defeated by Afghans themselves. We should not fight in Afghanistan; Afghans don't like talibs or their draconian interpretation of Sharia; given enough security and weapons, Afghans will reject the Taliban; Afghans should do their own fighting; only then is success possible; we need more troop and U.S. civilians to make it so that Afghans will assume that role.

I like it; and as I have said before, making community organizers our of our Marines is no easy task.

U. S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, one in a long line of tough, independent Texas women who have made a success out of politics, is running against Rick Perry for Governor of Texas. Perry is playing to the radical right, so Kay Bailey must move more in that direction than she might like. I suppose that explains her recent comments that imply that McChrystal is advocating that we kill all Taliban. I know certain Texans would agree. Don't know what explains why McConnell's asserting the same thing. Maybe it's a Republican thing.

More later.