seriously...?

It appears that Newsweek released a story about how some interrogators at Guantanamo decided that it would be a good idea to flush a copy of the Koran down the toilet to motivate people to talk. Why anyone would do something so completely offensive and disrespectful is beyond me, and needless to say, people in the Islamic world are not taking this well - there have been riots and such in Afghanistan about it. So far, things remain calm and uneventful in Pakistan, and Karachi is a long way from the border, but it could potentially interfere - at least, according to my co-worker who's already there. And didn't want to do the project in the first place. So her judgement...maybe not the most unbiased? (Although, my boss said that if they've got rioting in Karachi, I shouldn't go, and he'd promise to put me on the Vietnam project, starting June 16th. I think that if I get jerked around one more time about this, my head is going to explode.)

So yeah - that's what's going on. The joke around here is that no one ever believes that they're on a project until the plane door closes. It's not all that funny anymore, to tell you the truth.

There is also speculation, however, that the majority of the problems are coming from people who are already trying to get rid of the government and US troops in Afghanistan, so they're using this as a good opportunity to stir up unrest. Musharraf seems to have a good hold on things in Pakistan (although I wouldn't trade places with him for anything), so...well, basically, I'm going to try not to think about it. But I'll check the news and such Sunday morning and see what's going on.