<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4916.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>PK: </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Why oh why I am skeptical of these grand pronouncements? Oh I remember why. It's because I've heard all this self-righteous crap before. Before the war on the Taliban. The well-intentioned are in general more dangerous? Baloney. ]</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>---Actually you didn't hear Max all that negative toward the afghan campaign. I didn't agree with him on the bombing campaign matter, but I'll say that when I wanted to test my arguments against bombing, I looked at what Max wrote in defense of it, since he was one of the very few leftists who was capable of producing an argument without resorting to ad hominem attacks on people like Chomsky. In fact I'd go so far as to say that Max is one of the few people on the left that I disagree with on a number of foreign policy questions from whom I can actually learn something. I wouldn't mind at all being in a debate with Hitchens, I'd be wary of the same with Max.  </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>That aside, actually those of us who argued that the bombing campaign would not produce the desired results were largely correct, Afghanistan is a mess, Al Qaeda, while disoriented, is hardly incapacitated, the WOT is being conducted in a fashion that has little to do with addressing, and actually aggravates, core issues that, Hitch's excoriations of anyone who dares say this notwithstanding, are related to terror, Kabul's Mayor Karzai is in no shape to run the country let alone his little city after hours,......long live General Dostum...</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Speaking of Carrol's reference to Max's being more tied to left movement activity than Hitchens, which is spot on, I found Hitch's remark in his Washington Post "farewell" rant about nary being able to find any mention of Kurds at an anti-war meeting these days none too ironic....I mean, how would he know? When was the last time he went to one? </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2></FONT><BR> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>