In March of 2001, I read the CNN version of this story. I was sitting in my den, in Lawton, OK, reading the story from the CNN website. My wife was in the kitchen, I read the story to her, and told that "these guys" (the Taliban) were crazy. I told her that I had an awful feeling in my gut that we would be at war with them within a year, because they would start it.

Like I said, that was March 2001. A few months after the attack on the USS Cole. About 6 months before 9/11.

So, about 2 weeks ago, our esteemed Secretary of State attempted to reach out to the Taliban. After all, the premise is the reason they attacked us is that George Bush was President, right? If we just talk to them, we can work out any differences, right? ... Especially, now that Obama is President.

Apparently, the head of the Taliban on the Pakistani border didn't get the memo that the Obama administration wanted to "make nice". On the same day, Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Taliban in the Pakistani border, (a man with a 5 million dollar bounty on his head from the US government) told the AP, by phone, and I quote:

Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world.

Now, it could be the case that Mehsud just didn't "get the memo". Maybe he didn't get that the Obama administration was going to attempt to set a new tone, if you will.

Or maybe not.

The next day, the UK Daily Mail reported the following:

Crushing an olive branch offered by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Taliban leaders rejected a U.S. appeal to moderate militants as ‘a lunatic idea.’


So, according to the people that we are trying to find "common ground" with, the idea that we and they have any common ground is "a lunatic idea".

Imagine that.

We are a western civilization. Actually, we are, not only, "a" western civilization, at this point in history, we are "THE" western civilization.

They are fundamentalist Islamists. One of the most fundamental principles of their existence is the eradication of any culture not ruled by the strictest interpretation of Sharia law. Western civilization, as we know it, is the furthest possible thing from any interpretation of Sharia law in existence, at this point in time.

So, where is the common ground?

Given my experience, the common ground is here. If you have eaten recently, or if you have any weakness for gore, then I would not click the link.

My three Iraqi friends that were executed by al Quaeda did not die as cleanly as this. They were REALLY tortured.