Josh, the first part of your analysis seems sound. I think remorselessly hunting down and killing extremists does accrue to the good, notwithstanding the occasional unintentional error–not sure the Taliban will ever be quite ready to entirely reject the extreme fundamentalist (extremist?) designation.

I’d rather support those such as Sistani, Mousavi, Zardari, and even Karzai–who support the idea of providing a workable alternative to theocracy. (Of course, I realize how naive I am to suggest democracy might actually work.)