I recently sent Zach and email about one of my experiences here in DC and also complained about not having enough time to update my blog. He told me to just copy and paste my last email and call it good, so here you go. Here is one of the many awesome experiences I've had while living the dream at our nation's capitol...
"So I just went to a Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs hearing that John Kerry conducted and he invited Peter Bergen, Bruce Hoffman, and Marc Sageman (google all three of these names). These guys were my favorite readings in my International Relations and Terrorism classes... hands down the worlds leading experts on Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. I thought it weird that it wasn't until about 2 hours into it that someone finally asked about the drug problem there. The experts pointed out that it is a huge problem, but not to forget that the taliban damn near destroyed the opium cultivation and production in Afghanistan back in (and I could be wrong on the years here) the 60s or something. Yeah, the TALIBAN did. I remember reading about that and learning that they did it for religious purposes and did an extremely good job of it.
Anyway, after that hearing I gained a bit of confidence in the government for pulling these guys out of their careers for a couple of days to hear what they had to say about our involvement in Afghanistan. One of the guys was the CIA field director in Kabul, Afghanistan for 3 years, the other guys spend everyday learning about the place when they aren't actually there in person. Talk about a stimulating hearing. One of the Senators asked the three guys what they would advise the president to do if they were in the situation room with him right now. All three agree that it was going to take a sustained effort on behalf of the US, but the thing that made me realize the reality of the huge complexities of the situation was that NONE of them had a clear cut strategy that they were confident in. I thought that if anyone could judge it correctly that they could, but nope. God be with us, right?"
