BT, to my mind, this begins to focus things (as apparently Senator Reid's comments do). Answering this question -- in a bipartisan way -- would certainly advance the discussion. Nonetheless, the answers would be tentative, elusive, speculative by the very nature of the inquiry based on facts as they are now perceived, let alone how contingencies may spring up and develop. Either way, it will in the end analysis being a wager, either a good one or a bad one. Moreover, Secretary Gates does not address (in the quoted article) the issue of cost vs. return, and link that not only to political will but the dictates of national and world interest judged by principles objective as we can muster.
