Allah Bless America

It's not always that paradoxes of American foreign policy are readily available to the general public. Usually, only reading CIA reports and the opinion pages of renowned American newspapers will do the trick. But in the case of the United States versus Afghanistan, there is one particular movie that I invite everyone to watch. Seeing it is not unlike watching OJ Simpson's zany madcap antics in the Naked Gun movie series.
The movie I'm referring to is the James Bond movie, "The Living Daylights" from 1987. In this exciting action pic, our hero sports a turban as he engages the reds in the desert nation of Afghanistan. We learn that in spite of glasnost and perestrojka, there are still wicked evil Russian bad guys oppressing a freedom-loving people. As luck would have it, Mr Bond is supported in his actions by a certain Kamran Shah, a rebel leader whose horseback riding feats and simple clothing are a clever cover-up for an opulent lifestyle and an Oxbridge upbringing. The two join hands to fight the bad general Koskov.
Not all smelly Muslims with guns are scary, the movie seems to impress on us, only the ones who are not on our side. Well, we know better now. The person most eligible to have been the factual basis for Kamran Shah is none other than Osama bin Laden, and 007 was wrong ever to trust this spawn of Satan, let alone help him (he blows up a bridge for Mr Shah). Seeing "The Living Daylights" again should make you cringe at least a few times. Let's be happy that we are now clear on this: Osama bin Laden is a bad guy and, say, Saudi Arabia is a good guy. It's important to know this kind of stuff before you start bombing; you might hit someone who's really a friend.