[x-factor]

Supporting them, yes. Running them, no, not at all. Certainly, I defer to you all's expertise.

I just get the sense that the Dutch colonel had more he might have wanted to do and say than he felt he could tell the reporter...just an instinct about the guy's tone. Like I said, certainly yall know better than I.

EDIT: I just noticed the second part of your question. Let me address it.

You're right about how adversaries (real and potential) will spin it. My point is that I sympathize with the Dutch colonel's position, not that I agree with his statements. Sympathy and a bag of nuts is a lovely snack, not much else...but you've still got to feel for a guy who is an professional soldier serving a nation thats concept of military affairs (and international affairs in general, for that matter) is so fundamentally warped that it cringes with such consistency on every level (tactical up to grand strategic).