Please Don't Read This

Imagine going to Afghanistan and walking in Osama Bin Laden's foots steps. Think of walking through the caves where he lived, sitting in the bunkers where he waited out US bombing raids, and seeing the rooms where he communicated with his followers.

I have never been to Afghanistan, but walking through the Chu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam I imagine is a similar in feeling. Being able to walk where Americas enemy's won a war and seeing how they did it was an amazing feeling. Learning that the Napalm bombs which the US dropped on the Vietcong tunnels, only made them stronger because the soil was clay was fascinating. Having a tour from a former Vietcong gave me all the information I needed to know why America failed.

Looking back on this experience taught me one thing. As Americans, if we ever want to win the "War on Terror" we must first travel to the countries of our foes. Understand what we are up against and then smile and buy some souvenirs. This will in turn teach us how to beat our foes through means other than guns and bombs. More importantly it will give our foes a chance to sit down, have dinner with us, express their grievances, and then smile as we share a coffee together.

As a country that won our freedom through gorilla warfare; I find it amazing that we keep making the same mistake. The mistake is the same that cost the British a colony. It is the mistake of thinking we can forcibly remove a group of people who will defend what they have by any means necessary. Think of what that means.

It means life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness takes a backseat for moment. It means we as a people will stop at nothing to destroy this conquering power. Most importantly it means that that we as a people will NEVER let this war end.

Yes this is rather politically loaded, but after playing mediator between a table of Chinese and a table of Koreans this evening, I realized one thing. That is that differences cannot be overcome by power. Rather they are overcome by some goofball who understands both cultures and is willing to drink twice the number of drinks that he usually would be expected to and sing a few stupid songs that each side knows.

Whats the upside here? Well to start with, Muslims don't drink soju.