vengstice western civilization is based on something i'm going to loosely call justice. let's say someone opens fire on a crowd, killing say 26. we gets a trial, a conviction, and a sentence. and depending on where he did his dirty deed that could be life in prison or death. and we're pretty happy with that. it's what i call justice. middle eastern societies are based on something i'm going to loosely call vengeance. same guy kills 26. vengeance requires an eye for an eye. a tooth for a tooth. a life for a life. 26 lives for 26 lives. 26 lives - that had nothing to with the original crime - are forfeit. the law demands it. presumably everyone understands these are vengeance killings and not subject to more vengeance. to westerners this is horrifying. and fairly incomprehensible. but it works. the problem is when a western serviceman commits a crime in a middle eastern country. whose law applies? ours means he dies. theirs means he plus 25 other servicemen die. and presumably, middle easterners are willing to die to extract this vengeance. again incomprehensible to westerners. remind me again why we're still there. i'd hand the guy over to the afghans. let them stone him to death. with the very clear understanding that this is the only life they are going to get. they'd have to give up any further right to vengeance. normally at this point i'd say, timmer for president. screw that. i don't want the job.  ¶ 8:00 AM