Tom,

You said, "When you consider that the typical Afghan ally could probably be bought off with a cheese sandwich, this is not too surprising."

Now, that should read "goat cheese sandwich". Most Americans would head off with few cheddar cheese sandwiches, or maybe Swiss cheese sandwiches, and would wind up in trouble. Couldn't buy anyone off. Could be in deep do-do.

In reality, as I understand it, there is a well-publicized $25 million reward for bin Laden, and it still hasn't produced him. $25 million is a lot of any kind of sandwiches. I could get a few cows and a bakery for $25 million and have an endless supply of sandwiches.

I think there's a lot of information in that. Sort of like the $2 million offered for info on Jimmy Hoffa. It was clear some people knew what had happened to Hoffa, and that "ratting" out the process would cost them something worth more than the $2 million they'd get.

Arf