[shawn@]

Originally Posted by PiratesLife11

If Bin Laden is still alive—and we must assume that he is—he is holed up, along with his lieutenants, somewhere in the Hindu Kush mountains on the Pakistani border. The problem is that even with all of Musharraf's pledges of support, he has no control over the Waziristan region located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Waziristan is rife with radical Islamists who support AQ and its leadership. Before and shortly after 9/11, Pakistan's ISI was actively funding and allowing radical madrassas to conscript youths and other muslim extremists and them send them to be trained and fight as mujahedeen in Afghanistan; first against the Soviets, then against the ethnic Tajik N. Alliance. Now, Musharraf is in a precarious position. Many of the ISI agents who operate (or are allowed to operate without being killed) in Waziristan are still sympathetic to the mujahedeen cause, and are easily assuaged. The most obvious solution is that the ISI needs to undergo a massive house cleaning; however, Musharraf already walks a tight line, having already survived numerous assassination attempts. So for him to stay in power (and continue to at least somewhat assist the U.S.) he has to play both sides. As long as Waziristan and the surrounding regions remain autonomous, both economically and militarily; there will never be a solution to the UBL or AQ leadership problem.

UBL and Zawahiri and al-Masri and whoever else don't mean shit anyway. The war on terror is a war of ideals. We must utilize our military, CIA and State Department to win the hearts and minds of the Islamic world, because the quandary isn't going anywhere soon. Putting 150,000 boots on the ground only pisses people off. We must find, fund, arm and educate opposition groups by way of ODA and CIA paramilitary insertions. Use the people within the country of interest to do their own laundry. That way it appears the change is occurring from within. After an interim gov't. is set up, the State Department smoothes out the rough edges and begins to orchestrate the erection of various bureaucracies and infrastructures. This the only way we are going to win this war of attrition, and it will take decades.

—E

Amen!