Hearts and Minds, y'all...

See, here's the thing. We are effectively at war with an ideology. And the battlefield is that of perception on the Arab street (among other places and peoples - but this is the biggie). Part of my problem with the Iraq situation (aside from all the maiming and killing and profiteering and such-like) is that it is highly counterproductive to this particular war effort, this hearts and minds thing.

Afghanistan is in a tenuous situation - the Taliban have regained some strength, and the gov't in Kandahar is just that, with little power in the rest of the country. So we really need to be hitting the psy-ops thing pretty much on the money, instead of dropping blasphemous soccer balls from helicopters.