[ClaireSolt]

Before someone says anything dumb like Hillary's challenge about why can't we find the tallest man in Afghanistan, take a minute to understand a little bit about Waziristan. To call the terrain forbidding would be accuarate. People live at 17,000 feet where you and I cannot even breathe. The photo linked above shows the type of settlement surrounded by earthworks that they make. There are no roads and they acknowledge no nation's jurisdiction or borders. I cheered when we zapped some terrorists there with a Hellfire missle from a Predator. I guess there was international outrage from people who do not have that technology, but if we get a fix on Bin Laden, we can do it again. Karsai and Musahraff will be having meetings with those tribal leaders they announced this weekend.

These initiatives indicate that the process of pacification is advancing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

[razoroccam]

"People live at 17,000 feet where you and I cannot even breathe. "

Incorrect on two counts:

1. They live in altitudes of 6,000 feet, not 17,000 feet. See link
http://www.khyber.org/places/archives/sites_and_sounds-archive-4-2005.shtml

2. I have been up to 21,000 feet, and had no problems breathing.

People hype the dangers of Waziristan - it is lawless, but not impossible from a physical point of view. If the Indian army could destroy the Pakis in Kashmir, where it is much higher, this cannot be too difficult. Maybe the US and Pakistan should allow India to take charge here, if they can't do it.