I guess that’s kind of what they pay him for, though. They pay somebody else to know enough not to put him on the air. Time for a new P.R. guy.

Reminds me a little of something I heard years ago. There was a large hostage incident in England that dragged on and on. Half a dozen hostage takers and dozens of hostages. Eventually they sent in the S.A.S. About 10 minutes later, they came back out and one of the S.A.S. was asked some questions.

Were any of the hostages hurt? No. They’re all fine.

How many of the hostage-takers were hurt? Uh… well, when they send in the S.A.S., ma’am, it’s not to collect prisoners.

Not only should the US try negotiating with some of these folks it should do so blatantly.  What better way to undercut the credibility of many of these groups than by offering to talk with them, which they won’t actually be willing to do.

tim gueguen: Not only should the US try negotiating with some of these folks it should do so blatantly.
What better way to undercut the credibility of many of these groups than by offering to talk with them, which they won’t actually be willing to do.

I reckon that’s a great idea, Tim, but it’s a bit too obvious.
The KISS principle is not part of political thinking.
And don’t forget, the Koran rules every aspect of life in the ME except for the ruling elite - they’d be a pack of deviant bastards, wouldn’t they? 

The country most in need of a regime change right now is the United States. Let’s not forget this come November.

Unfortunately, ‘tis exceedingly unlikely that this colonel or the rest of his litter-mates will be ousted in the next election.  Rarely do the heads roll more than three-deep, and “Colonel” is way down in the pile.

Not only should the US try negotiating with some of these folks it should do so blatantly.  What better way to undercut the credibility of many of these groups than by offering to talk with them, which they won’t actually be willing to do.

They did “negotiate”.  It was called the road map to peace. And the result illustrated your point almost beautifully.  They were willing to “negotiate” and sign accords, agreements, etc.  It’s what Mohammed called taking a breather or some such, and was designed to allow time to rebuild strength to renew the war.  A war which, I might add, they have no hope of losing simply by dint of numbers.  Most predominantly muslim nations have much higher population growth rates than nations dominated by other religions.  They could simply wait the rest of us (Animists, Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Communists, Daoists, Druze, Episcopalians, Gaiaists, Hindus, Shintoists, Wiccans, Zoroastrians, etc.) out and win the war by default, but what would be the fun of that?