We always prefer certainty. Thus, we wish we knew exactly where Pakistan stands in the war on terror. Many people believe the Pakistanis knew all along where Osama was hiding out. According to the Grey Peregrinator, he used to fly over Chez Bin Laden regularly, stopping to share birdspeak with the assembled flocks. They could have told us where he was at least 10 years earlier; but then the money from the US would have stopped flowing. “You can buy a lot of bird seed with the billions that went into the coffers of the Pakistani Army and the eminently corrupt politicians,” GP chortled gleefully. “No one spends like the US intelligence services, spending immense sums of money for obscure intelligence is one of the highest ratings criteria.”
I asked how intelligent using sums spent as a ratings criteria might be. GP said, look, these are the same geniuses that brought us the mortgage loan crises, and Energy Department that has contributed nothing since it was formed, and a Homeland Security Department whose main accomplishment has been to discourage senior citizens from flying what might otherwise be friendly skies.
You can find a great article on this topic in the current edition of the Economist Magazine.
Passing Through . . . . 