[bravo22b]

So you would prefer American newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and e-zines only run articles or opinions with which you agree and allow arguments be made for only one side of a debate?

MOO here - but Kristoff's OpEd piece - whether you agree with him and his thesis or not - offers some valid points to be pondered.* For example:

FWIW - I'd prefer to hear them all out and be allowed to form my own opinions - but maybe that's just me, my age, my own experiences, and my woefully deficient public school education speaking again.

I can see that I framed my issue with Kristof's article poorly. Maybe my own woefully deficient public school education at work.

I read the NYT every day, partly because I feel they have better reporting than most other papers, and partly because I like to get a broad spectrum of viewpoints on any given subject. I am of the school of thought that I read as much as I can, try to pull out what seems like the relevant information from multiple sources, and then form my own opinions.

Like anyone else, I suppose I have my bias towards points of view that I agree with. That being said, I read the Max Boot article and the Nicholas Kristof article back to back yesterday morning. I found the Max Boot article to be well written and based on current and specific information illustrating his point. I felt the Kristof article was at least partly made up of several statements that are very general, not well supported, and frankly unrelated in my opinion.

The United States was born of our ancestors’ nationalistic resentment of a foreign power whose troops we saw as occupiers, not protectors. The British never fathomed our basic grievance — this was our land, not theirs! — so the more they cracked down, the more they empowered the American insurgency.

I think this is gross generalization, and it's not clear to me that even if this statement were really 100% true, that it necessarily relates directly to the war in Afghanistan. My perhaps imperfect understanding of the primary cause of the American revolution was umbrage at "taxation without representation", not British troops occupying America.

A fair amount of the reporting I have read recently from reporters who are actually in Afghanistan seems to indicate there is still a fair amount of support for U.S. forces, at least where we are implementing a successful COIN strategy.

When Pakistani troops enter Pashtun areas, the result has sometimes been a backlash that helps extremists. If Pashtuns react that way to Punjabis, why do we think they will react better to Texans?

Again, I don't see what this statement has to do with anything. Whether the Pashtuns react well to Punjabis who may or may not be treating them with any respect has little to do with how they may react to our troops, again providing we are implementing a good COIN strategy.

The American military has become far more sensitive to Afghan sensibilities in the last few years, and there are some first-rate commanders on the ground who cooperate well with local Pashtun leaders. That creates genuine stability. But all commanders cannot be above average, and a heavier military footprint almost inevitably leads to more casualties, irritation and recruitment for the Taliban.

In this, he admits that we can be successful and then advocates quitting because we can't be perfect. Further, the statement that a heavier military footprint "almost inevitably" will lead to further problems disregards his previous observation that we can be successful, as well as ignores the fact that a "heavier footprint" may mean having a footprint in places where we previously had none, not just having more troops in places we already are.

What I should have made more clear in my first post was that I think Kristof's article is a piece of trash not because I have a differing viewpoint, but because I feel it is poorly written.

I don't see myself as close minded or a reactionary kind of guy. I spend a fair amount of time listening to NPR and reading the NY Times - doesn't that make me almost a closet liberal?