This is the early stages. When the media reports are still sketchy. They're trying to get the one or two reporters on the ground over there to confirm our government's word, and typically they simply have to fill the hours until confirmation with words straight from the Department of Defence.

I want to believe that we are going to do it right this time. That we're taking out their ability to fuck up out planes so that we can start airlifting troops and supplies so that we can round up the Taliban forces while we get supply lines from Pakistan sending in wave after wave of food and the Army Corps of Engineers proceeds to have a good old time building wells, roads, bridges, power plants, and everything else that would be a drop in the hat for the DoD budjet-wise and would prove that we want to make things better, nto worse.

I'm hoping, but I'm not expecting. I hear the CBS correspondent talking from a Northern Alliance field base about how the "Unified Front" is using this to their advantage. I recall what little I know about the Northern Alliance, and how they were just as cruel at the Taliban when they were in power. I wonder if Cheney and Rumsfeld are going to do it like they did in the 80's, giving the perceived "lesser evil" control rather than take the long, hard road of aid that would prove to the world that we mean it when we say that humanitarianism will be a part of this mission.

The front page of our student newspaper talked about the Peace Protests that happened yesterday. The usual suspects from the International Socialist Organization were there to the tune of 200 people. They're totally wrong, though. They're trying to say that we're doing this all for oil. Oil!?! They're being reactionaries, their signs and slogans were pre-made and they were out in less than half an hour after Bush's speech, talking about how wrong we were to commit whatever action we happened to be committing. Before a single rebuttle was said about their protests, they talked about the censure they were receiving from the "mainstream".

I sat up last night and watch Pervez Musharraf's press conference on CNN. He seemed to be very wise and contemplative with his words. The strikes should be short, the aid should be long, and the Northern Alliance should not be allowed to gain mileage from this attack. I have a feeling his words should be at the fron of the CNN website, not Rumsfeld.

So, what do I do about all this? When our action seems to be at the point where it could end up becoming another travesty or a turning point in our foreign policy. When the activist front has its head so far up its ass that there simply isn't a way one can associate it and not come off with taint of "jackass".

Right now I guess the best thing to do is hope. And pray.