Movie Review > Salt

Salt: She's beautiful, there's a plot about Russian sleeper agents & complex action sequences. It's a  thriller. What more can anyone ask from this genre? I think it's a 'go-see' if you like this type of movie. Angelina Jolie carries the film, plays it to the hilt & is... well, sort of believable, as a REALLY tough CIA operative named Evelyn Salt. This is the 'pilot' film. Expect sequels; I'd bet money on it. Would 3.5 stars (of 5) be too much? Nah. I enjoyed it. It was fun. Here are a couple of other reviews. 

• NPR > Who Is 'Salt'? Tastily Enough, It's Angelina Jolie 
• NYT > Spies, Spider Venom & Sex Appeal
• The Stranger > Salt: More Like Womb Raider, Amirite?

CIA director Leon Panetta > 50-100 Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Does this make you wonder what we are doing there? I wonder.

Leon Panetta gave his first-ever network news interview as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Sunday. Panetta, appearing on "This Week" with Jake Tapper, broke some serious news. Here's the transcript. Below a revelations from Panetta's interview.

Only '50 to 100' Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan Asked how many al-Qaeda were in Afghanistan, Panetta responded, "I think at most, we're looking at 50 to 100, maybe less. It's in that vicinity. There's no question that the main location of Al Qaeda is in the tribal areas of Pakistan." Liberal blogger Marcy Wheeler notes that the U.S. plans to invest up to 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. "Even Afghan war fans admit that it costs $1 million a year -- on top of things like salary -- to support a US service member in Afghanistan. ... So 1,000 US troops per al Qaeda member, at a cost of $1 million each. That's $1 billion a year we spend for each al Qaeda member to fight our war in Afghanistan."

Added 2010/07/05: Fareed Zakaria criticizes 'disproportionate' Afghanistan war on CNN. Click here for Huffington Post article which includes video from CNN.