I don't write to overcome your bias, I realize it is deep-set in your very fabric and probably reasonable, but you miss most of my points.
Wow.
It's like Lord Churchill addressing Gandhi.
Omar Ali (not an American military officer, I know, but no one is perfect) has posted a very interesting article, representing the opinion of one particular populace with Pakistan (gee, populace is an interesting word):
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/...0120420&page=6 - the piece is titled, "Taliban are Pak Army proxies, not Pashtun nationalists - IIIBetween 2003 to 2007, over 200 political activists, including tribal leaders in South Waziristan were target killed under mysterious circumstances never investigated by the government of Pakistan. The common denominator among them is that they all were anti-Taliban. Their families hold the ISI responsible for their killing. Many of the eliminated anti-Taliban people were local activist of Pashtun nationalist political parties, PMAP and ANP. Mahmud Achakzai, leader of PMAP, repeatedly visited Waziristan to attend the funeral ceremonies of his assassinated party workers.
Translation: not all Pashtuns support the Taliban.
But at this point I am not going to argue about it anymore. OBL was found in Abbottabad and KSM was found in Rawalpindi. And the Saudis and the Pakistan military and its intelligence services have always worked together. I can think of lots of reasons people might ignore potential connections between the two --and to 9-11--but none of them are flattering to the holders of that opinion. Aw, relax, everyone, I'm talking about the Beltway. CYA might explain a lot.
At any rate, this is all rapidly becoming a waste of my time. It's been quite an education, though.
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