Kendall -

Well put! Which is why (referring to the Infinite Justice thread) we should not "alienate" Muslims by using ill-advised words like "infinite" and "crusade".

As for people on the ground - this is where the CIA comes in for stick, they have invested in hi-tech satellite and eavesdropping technology and thus is reliant on 2nd hand knowledge (A source with direct knowledge of CIA operations said: "We always got our information from the British and I think they got most of theirs from the Pakistanis") Between 1979, when the Societs invaded Afghanistan, there were no (CIA) Dari or Pusto speakers in Afghanistan, and soon after Moscow was driven out in 1984, the CIA left too. Despite the growing threat from bin Laden and his associates there was no attempt to cultivate contacts with Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, until 1999. Now he is dead, probably by associates of bin Laden and America's best chance of obtaining information about its most serious foe on the planet may well have died with him.