Minor Updates

     I don’t have much to say this week. No further word about our close down. No close down plan. No work instructions. The Afghans have not yet received any official word that the program is ending. The wild rumors are starting. One rumor that may have some substance is that some, maybe most, of the CNAT team members will be moved to similar jobs withing the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) and continue what they have been doing. This rumor also says that the CNAT team style of counter narcotics work will be expanded to other Provinces (we are now in eight), the provinces will be organized into regions, and the regions will have someone like me – an “International Advisor” to provide advice, liaison with the foreign donors, etc. to the various provincial teams in the region. Assuming that the funding that is now going to this program is just reprogrammed to go to the MCN, that approach would work and would make use of the already trained and experienced humam resources that exist within the teams.


     Follow up regarding Pam Anderson’s demise from Dancing With the Stars:

     Pam was beaten out last week by Erin Andrews, the ESPN reporter, who I regarded as an inferior dancer. I was wrong. I don’t know if Andrews began taking steroids this week or what. I just know that she gave a steamy tango performance that made my eyes bug out. I think that two of the judges were, like me, so surprised that they just could not believe what they were seeing well enough to bring themselves to award her a score of 10. Only Len, the crusty old Brit, gave her a ten. I though that dance would surely be the performance of the night. Then, however, Nicole Scherzinger, the singer from Hawaii, did a dance that clearly surpassed even what Andrews had done. As Len said, it may well be the best performance ever – in the full ten years of the show. If you did not see the it – even if you do not like the show – I urge you to log onto ABC and watch these two dances. I’m irritated that I can not log on and rewatch them myself – if your outside the USA they will not transmit the shows. Anyway, try to take a look. Anyone who will record the show for me will receive a Big Mac (or similar) whenever I’m able. One thing: Everyone did two dances this week, and I don’t know how to separate these two remarkable ones from the other that each lady did – but the lesser dances were not bad either.
      Evan Lysacek, the Olympic gold medal figure skater, has, until now, been regarded as the favorite to win. This week, however, both these women made him look like a stiff and awkward long shot. Chad Ochocinco, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver has broken just about every foot ball receiving record that ever existed. Clearly he is a superb athlete. Unless he shows the kind of startling improvement next week that Andrews exhibited this week, however, he has no chance.

     It continues to warm here. The past two days have both been about 105 F. It is dry, but that is still pretty warm. The absence of humidity, however, allows it to cool to a comfortable level fairly rapidly.

     The French are taking over all, or almost all, of the basic police training at this site. DynCorp now is doing a big share of it. Most of the DynCorp instructors will be moved to other in-country jobs. I am told that this has happened before at another site(s), but they moved the training back to US instructors after a while. There is nothing wrong with the French police instructors, but it is much more difficult to find translators/interpreters/language assistants that speak either of the two predominant Afghan languages and French that finding bilingual a Afghan-English speakers.