In this post (#51 this thread) I made a statement regarding a view through one specific soda straw. I still stand by that statement within the extremely narrow context that it was offered -- a sterile comment on the cross-cultural multi-audience issues raised by the excerpt of COL Nicholson's statement as it appeared in tequila's post #46.

However, now that I have peered through a few more soda straws and a little bit more at the events in general, I note that it must be next to impossible for anyone with more background on the incident in Jalalabad to separate that one straw from the many others that are on the camel's back and point to a breadth and depth of issues far beyond the one that I brought up.

The whole event is WAY complex and strikes to many many issues. In retrospect, for me to make have made such a comment on one sterile corner of the whole festering mess, as darn on target as the comment may have been , was marginally ridiculous. For those who were able to join me in being so objective (or ill-informed ), OK I guess, you needn't have read this. But for those who had some subjectivity due to a smidgeon of additional awareness, I now thoroughly appreciate how you might not have been able to accept that sterile comment and probably couldn't see straight for a while after reading it.

Might be some breaking news this week, and we'll see what it all brings. There will be much ado about rush to judgement, conviction in the press, service and cross-loyalties and/or their absence, etc.

BTW, in this recent story Gen Conway criticizes the apology.