Carry on up the Khyber

We don't have much interesting or original to say about the capture of Saddam. Aside from the basic factual information, digested in about one minute, virtually all the discussion is simply speculation about the likely impact of his capture and what happens next. And of course, the speculation varies widely in terms of its degree of its informativeness. But surely there has to be a standard that such speculation should at least have its basic facts right. Gregg Easterbrook's ruminations on the implications of Saddam's capture on the chase for Osama fail this test. A typical sentence is as follows:
Generally it is assumed, though, of course, the assumption could be wrong, that bin Laden is hiding in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, a "tribal area"--Pakistanis themselves call it that--where the Islamabad government has little influence.

Then follows a fairly standard discourse on how the topography of the region makes military operations difficult, how tribal loyalties undercut any government influence etc etc, all in terms of describing this wild place called NWFP. The problem: Easterbrook has confused his Pakistani acronyms, revealing a basic misunderstanding of Pakistan's political structure -- all the more surprising since he claims to have been there. So here's the correct version: Pakistan, like Ireland, has four provinces -- though unlike the Irish case, we haven't encountered any Pakistani pubs calling themselves the Four Provinces in tribute to the homeland. These provinces are Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and the aforementioned NWFP. Bin Laden is NOT assumed to be in any of these provinces.

Pakistan's territory also covers areas that are not within the provincial structure -- these mainly consist of tribal areas that were within British India but where the British never sought to exert control; the same semi-autonomous deal was continued after independence in 1947. Bin Laden IS believed to be in one of these, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. FATA, not NWFP. This map shows the difference.