Thanks for a great story.

"A government is seen as legitimate when it fills its constituents' needs or desires. For certain constituents, such as officials and tribal chiefs, a barrelful of money fits the bill—and could ease the path for letting us, or the central government, pursue more broadly appealing programs, such as building roads, providing jobs, and sowing crops other than poppies.

The idea may seem outrageous, until one considers that we're currently spending about $4 billion a month on this war. A discreet and well-planned bribery program would cost pennies on the dollar—a mere rounding error in a calculation of the budget."

Back in 1987 at the Academy of Health Sciences one of my instructors used to admonish us student/soldiers by saying, “people, you are limping through life, limping through life”. It is awfully funny to now watch the best government that money can buy doing just the same today. Reap what you you sow indeed.