Andy, re that statement by Petraeus and Sedwill imploring the Afghan people to remember that we “are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people,” here’s a headline from today’s New York Times:
Afghan Police Officer Turns Gun on American Soldiers, Killing 2
These are the Afghans who know us best — the ones selected, trained, and funded by us for a decade.
What did these soldiers die for? That their commander might offer even more abject prostrations of apology over “any disrespect to the Holy Qur’an”? Would it help if General Petraeus stuck a couple more apostrophes in the approved spelling and began his press releases with, “In the name of Allah the most merciful . . .”?
We have internalized our enemies’ psychoses — that we are the unclean ones.