WHY?

[HairOfTheDog]

Or as you will surely know, and one of my favourite scenes from Team America, where they give that deep plastic surgery to the actor and his resemblance to a terrorist is just so .... uncanny.

I can't believe the guys in the photo you posted aren't Arab!

But yeah, Gary's visual transformation from a pretty F.A.G. type into a smarmy terrorist was utterly convincing, I agree.

However, I think what really helped him to infiltrate the Cairo terrorist bar scene was his mastery of the language. Impressive. SF agents all over the world would be wise to follow suit.

Derka, derka!



In all seriousness, really hoping that the turmoil in the Middle East and Afghanistan will die down shortly, but don't think that'll be the case. The US can't change thousands of years of history and culture and grudges -- though we can and should try to protect our interests (not just the oil) and do whatever we can to keep from becoming vulnerable targets on our own ground again for Islamic fundamentalists.

Regarding Iraq, I'm really not sure why there wasn't an insistence that the post-Hussein government include some Sunni representation instead of a full throttle switch to Shia only. That's was ignorant and shortsighted, IMO.

Anyway, tricky business for the US in terms of foreign policy these days.

-We're with Iran in supporting Iraq's govt against ISIS rebels.
-But, we're against Iran in its support of Syria's govt, which is fighting forces partly comprised of ISIS members and affiliates.

-We're with Qatar in wanting peace talks with the Afghani Taliban, which may be rebuilding ties with the Pakistani Taliban, which is currently waging war on the Pakistani govt and military installations (whom we support).
-And, we're with Qatar (our favored middlemen of the moment), cautiously, to support only the non "terrorist" factions of the Syrian "rebels" (though Qatar supports ISIS). As if that's a real possibility...

-We're on the shit list with long-time ME ally Israel for not taking a harder line with Syria and because of our seemingly thawing relations with Iran.

-And, all's quiet on the western when it comes to Saudi Arabia, which of course, is a primary financial backer of ISIS and orchestrator of many of the goings-on in the region.

Ah, well. Domestic policy and the economy were the main areas of focus in the 2012 US presidential campaigns. I think that the 2016 platforms are gonna need to be very foreign policy heavy by comparison.

Whomever takes the helm is gonna have his/her hands full because there isn't a definitive "right answer" as to what should be done, how much of a threat each of the foreign-based terrorist factions presents to the US, which of our partners today will be our partners tomorrow in this time of increasing multi-national conflict... (And, none of that even encompasses Russia and the Ukraine.)