Otherwise, the Maoists in Nepal are actually taking a more responsible approach than most folks might have expected. I've got three porters to carry my books and camera gear. They are all Maoists, so there are many interesting conversations at night. I told them that I have been to many communist countries and find the communist philosophy bankrupt. I don't like it at all. They laugh at me because they know that America is a friend of the Nepali people. But I have been to Nepal on perhaps five or six occasions, and it's true that all that the Maoists wanted was justice, schools, roads, clinics, and so forth. Thankfully, this war has ended, yet also it was a war that never needed to happen if the people had been treated with respect.

I just went eight days with no Internet, and had to divert my course, walking four days to find an Internet connection in a small village. My inbox contained complaints about the price of an E-book edition of Moment of Truth in Iraq on Amazon.com. I did not know there was an E-Book version until readers informed me. The pricing of this "Kindle" edition is completely out of the publisher's hands and Amazon has, for some reason unknown to me, set the price very high.

While I'm in this small Nepali village today, I'll do interviews on various radio programs, such as G. Gordon Liddy, Dennis Miller, Bill Bennett, Mancow, Kirby & Co., and Vicki McKenna. If you hear one of the interviews, there might be some strange sounds in the background. The telephone I'll be using is in a kitchen, where the locals will be talking Nepali or some other language, and cooking my dinner during the interviews!

Many people are coming to realize that the war in Iraq is over. The situation is still violent, but the fast progress is undeniable. The Iraqi government is inept, yet is largely seen as legitimate. The Iraqi government has dramas, but we need look no further than to our friends in Thailand or South Korea or India to see even greater governmental dramas. I remember living in Poland when they traded communism for democracy and capitalism. Unemployment, inflation and economic woes were as bad (perhaps even worse) than in Iraq. Poland is one of America's closest allies and has been an important partner in Iraq. Poland knows that Iraq can make it, although the war has been divisive in Poland, too.

In the next month or so, I might ask the American or British military if they will take me back in Iraq after this trek in Nepal, but there are many long days ahead for me in Afghanistan, and I imagine much of that will be beyond the walls of any military base. Now is time to study the war ahead, and to prepare for the long path ahead.

Your correspondent,

Michael

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