10:30pm Sunday Night President's Having a Press Conference?

[Danzig]

the seals did a great job-the firefight didn't last much time at all; the majority of the approximate 40 mins involved was for search and seizure after the gunfight. can't help but wonder how much useful info was brought back for further investigating....hard drives, cell phones, bank records, plans. ought to be a treasure trove of info.

as for pakistan-they're doing their best to keep everyone happy. us, their citizens who hate us, their citizens who want an islamic theocracy, those who don't.....not surprised that bin laden was there, and i won't be surprised to find that some paki higher ups were helping him stay in hiding.

a masterful job; props to obama for going with the seal attack rather than the bombing that gates favored. not much info to be found and brought back when everything gets blown to kingdom come.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

as for pakistan-they're doing their best to keep everyone happy. us, their citizens who hate us, their citizens who want an islamic theocracy, those who don't.....not surprised that bin laden was there, and i won't be surprised to find that some paki higher ups were helping him stay in hiding.

Pretty good summation. Now we get to deal with the equally ugly reality that is Karzai screaming we need to get out of his country.

[Danzig]

no doubt karzai is taking a lot of heat-he wants to stay in power, but probably doesn't want to appear as a u.s. puppet. afganistan is a mess; it was mishandled and shunted aside for iraq's sake, now it's just appearing to be an endless quagmire. people are talking about having discussions with the taliban- i don't see us agreeing to that. we need to get the heck out of there, that situation will probably never improve.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

no doubt karzai is taking a lot of heat-he wants to stay in power, but probably doesn't want to appear as a u.s. puppet. afganistan is a mess; it was mishandled and shunted aside for iraq's sake, now it's just appearing to be an endless quagmire. people are talking about having discussions with the taliban- i don't see us agreeing to that. we need to get the heck out of there, that situation will probably never improve.

Ditto. We've fallen into what the Russians went through. It's tribal, it's unregulated - let the rest of the middle east, and Putin, worry about it. The only inroad we've made is to get some villagers on our side, because we'll pay them more than the Taliban will. And that will only last as long as the money flows. Let it just be the heroin capital of the world.

PS - I've never read any of Shelby Foote's civil war stuff, but I'm aware of it - what's the best one to start with?

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Riot

Ditto. We've fallen into what the Russians went through. It's tribal, it's unregulated - let the rest of the middle east, and Putin, worry about it. The only inroad we've made is to get some villagers on our side, because we'll pay them more than the Taliban will. And that will only last as long as the money flows. Let it just be the heroin capital of the world.

PS - I've never read any of Shelby Foote's civil war stuff, but I'm aware of it - what's the best one to start with?

danny's probably a better source but it's written as a chronological history.

i only finished fort sumter to perryville and skimmed the last two but if you want to have an encyclopedic knowledge start with that and work your way through. as much as i loved him as a commentator on the ken burns series i just found 2000 pages plus more of a challenge than i was up to.

i also gave up on ulysses, infinite jest, and gravities rainbow.

i try to be smart but some books just kick my ass.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

danny's probably a better source but it's written as a chronological history.

i only finished fort sumter to perryville and skimmed the last two but if you want to have an encyclopedic knowledge start with that and work your way through. as much as i loved him as a commentator on the ken burns series i just found 2000 pages plus more of a challenge than i was up to.

i also gave up on ulysses, infinite jest, and gravities rainbow.

i try to be smart but some books just kick my ass.

Ulysses is a mean joke. Off to Amazon.

[Danzig]

there are three books, fort sumer to perryville; fredericksburg to meridian, and the last is red river to appamattox. the first book is just over 900 pages, the other two are each over 1k. i recommend the books for anyone not frightened at reading books that took a total of 20 years to be written. lots of details, but not boring to read.

as for ulysses-ugh.

now war and peace, that's a good book. i know people crack jokes about it, but it's excellent.

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Danzig

the seals did a great job-the firefight didn't last much time at all; the majority of the approximate 40 mins involved was for search and seizure after the gunfight. can't help but wonder how much useful info was brought back for further investigating....hard drives, cell phones, bank records, plans. ought to be a treasure trove of info.

as for pakistan-they're doing their best to keep everyone happy. us, their citizens who hate us, their citizens who want an islamic theocracy, those who don't.....not surprised that bin laden was there, and i won't be surprised to find that some paki higher ups were helping him stay in hiding.

a masterful job; props to obama for going with the seal attack rather than the bombing that gates favored. not much info to be found and brought back when everything gets blown to kingdom come.

stop being so reasonable. the internet is an extension of the shout-fest that passes for media these days. if i were steve, i'd ban you.

no one wants to hear a nuanced opinion anymore. people shouting at each other is where the money is.

you stupid ****.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

stop being so reasonable. the internet is an extension of the shout-fest that passes for media these days. if i were steve, i'd ban you.

no one wants to hear a nuanced opinion anymore. people shouting at each other is where the money is.

you stupid ****.

lol
nice quote by the way! as an aside, the third shelby foote is going well.

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Danzig

lol
nice quote by the way! as an aside, the third shelby foote is going well.

you're a better person than i. it's sits shamefully on my bookshelf with a nearly unbroken spine.

[rpncaine]

Hell if you think about it, it's the perfect final f*** you by Bin Laden. By making sure when we do get him he's right under the Pakkies nose and so we come down hard on them. Even if they didn't know he was there (and I can't see how they couldn't) it is brilliant.