My Afghanistan journey in picture form:

[beachmom]

h/t Andrew Sullivan.

[YvonneCa]

1. LOL! You appear to be lost in an...

...upside down Bell-curve! :7

[karynnj]

2. Whoa - I thing that model fits me as well!

Though I never got that near the X axis.

[beachmom]

3. Ah, The Onion has cleared things up for me:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_continues_quagmire_building?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

U.S. Continues Quagmire-Building Effort In Afghanistan

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN— According to sources at the Pentagon, American quagmire-building efforts continued apace in Afghanistan this week, as the geographically rugged, politically unstable region remained ungovernable, death tolls continued to rise, and the grim military campaign persisted as hopelessly as ever.

In fact, many government officials now believe that the United States and its allies could be as little as six months away from their ultimate goal: the total quagmirification of Afghanistan.

"We've spent a lot of time and money fostering the turmoil and despair necessary to make this a sustaining quagmire, and we're not going to stop now," President Barack Obama said in a national address Monday night. "It won't be easy, but with enough tactical errors on the ground, shortsighted political strategies, and continued ignorance of our vast cultural differences, we could have a horrific, full-fledged quagmire by 2012."

Added Obama, "Together, we can make Afghanistan into a nightmarish hell-scape Americans will regret for generations to come."

[wisteria]

4. Yes, it is getting to a point of what to believe anymore.

That is why I have latched on to Senator Kerry's views on this.

[karynnj]

6. I fight the strong temptation to do that with limited success

As Beachmom noted when the speech was given, he is a very compelling speaker. I am usually convinced because he always does a very good job of making a strong logical case. The problem is that to do that he does pick the facts that he emphasizes. In addition, the same facts might support alternative proposals. It is very obvious why his biographies have comments giving him incredible praise as a very junior prosecutor. He is very very good at making a case - and his combination of focus, intelligence and eloquence is rare.

So, why Afghanistan makes my head hurt when I try to think about it, it is tempting to say that I trust Kerry's goals, greatly respect his intelligence and diligence in preparing his decisions, I suspect just going with his view will, oddly lead me to be more strongly backing that plan, than the Senator himself. Why? I assume that he is making a persuasive speech. If he cited caveats on everything, it would not be persuasive and would be like reading something with copious footnotes. The other thing is that I have always criticized that in others who just accept what a "leader" says.

[Luftmensch067]

7. I think I know what you mean

For myself, as much as I respect his eloquence and persuasiveness, what really persuades me is, as you say: his intelligence and diligence in preparing his decisions. And that is why I am confident that he will continue to modify his stance on Afghanistan, as on other issues, based on ALL information he is able to obtain. I don't see it as just accepting what a leader says, which we are right to be wary of doing, but as trusting someone who is able to obtain far more information than I can and whom I know will always research and THINK hard before ever making a pronouncement. I am going to continue to listen more carefully to Kerry than anyone else when it comes to Afghanistan policy because I trust his judgement.

[karynnj]

8. I agree with you on everything you say,

but, I wonder how much Kerry's eternal optimism and willingness to think the best of people, both very good personal characteristics, might be the reason that there is a disconnect here from his impressive analysis of the situation and his recommendation. He is arguing for the COIN option in places with "good enough" governance - the question is whether ANY section of Afghanistan meets this criteria. If it doesn't his plan won't work - and he is likely right on why counter terrorism won't work.

A question I have is even if Karzai can overnight reform himself and all his key allies, is it too late for people to change their impression. (What if Bush, maybe visited by a Dickensian ghost, had suddenly rejected many of the abuses he had been involved in around Christmas 2005 - remaining conservative. Would we have noticed? )

[Inuca]

9. I don't think it's about blindly

"following the leader". For me at least, it is that though by nature I am very reluctant to blindly follow rules or do/think what I am told to do/think, I also recognize my limitations. SOmebody like Kerry is not only smarter but more importantly has access to WAY more information that I do, not to mention that it's his full time job to be good at analyzing complex issues and making hopefully appropriate good decisions. That's why I do not have a problem accepting ALMOST by default the positions taken by one of the tiny number of politicians I came to trust and appreciate. And that's why I also think that the blogistan's (love that expression!) often knee-jerk reaction is at the very least arrogant and presumptuous and is no better than Rep. Wilson's "you lie!" outburst.

[MH1]

5. I kind of feel like that too.