Afghanistan ...money pit and soldiers grave ...

Douglas Farah has a good blog and valuable insight into the activities of Mr Osama Bin Laden, his influence on the border region of Waziristan etc., and doom laden reports on the wisdom of military action in the home of the opium poppy. It demonstrates how unwise it is to read too much into reports in 2002 such as this ... "On 18 March 2002, the Secretary of State for Defence announced that a Commando battlegroup was being dispatched to work with US, Canadian and other Coalition forces in operations against remaining pockets of Al Qaida and Taliban resistance in Afghanistan. It was confirmed on 16 April that 45 Commando Group had commenced operations."

PS. David Mills the talented international lawyer and separated husband of the tragic but beautiful Tessa Jowell, is NOT involved in heroin smuggling , financing or drug distribution. (Note that a recent report (BBC 5/8/2005) stated that the River Po showed such a concentration of the products (benzoylecgonine (BE)) of cocaine that Italy must claim to be the highest users oc cocaine in the world).