Stop.

Pass by any taxi rank where the drivers are loitering and you’ll find them engaged in a lively discussion about politics back in their native lands. These guys have a finger to pulse of both Washington and the AfPak region. Forget about the policy wonks and the senior fellows, these guys are the real foreign policy experts.

Oh my God. Fucking stop.

In an admittedly unscientific poll of the last five taxi rides I took with South Asian drivers, Abdullah and Mohamed claimed that the U.S. is ruining Afghanistan and making matters worse in Pakistan with drone strikes that are killing more civilians than terrorists. Najeeb and Ibrahim said it’s a travesty that the U.S. is considering reducing its commitment to Afghanistan after all the pledges to rebuild. They are convinced the Taliban will regain power in double time if the U.S doesn’t change things up soon. Ahmed wholeheartedly endorsed the McChrystal report and claimed he heard about it even before it was leaked.

There is a longstanding professional tradition in journalism that the height of hackery is to publish a piece based on the shit you talk about with cabbies on the way from the airport or train station. We’re far beyond “rare window” stuff here. This is a rule that exists for a reason: to protect you, the reader, from our natural, human tendencies toward passing off laziness as original reporting. You break down that barrier and it’s cats and dogs, living together, mass hysteria. Thanks, Washington Post. Next up, you’ll be poking holes in other people’s condoms.