Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan is 12 years old. Four U.S. soldiers died there today. Someone's gotta die -- that's the nature of war, a part of its crooning satisfaction camouflaged by tears. The U.S. tallies its dead with care. The U.S. isn't worried about brown people.

What would the U.S. do without a war ... some war ... any war? What would it do if waging peace were job-one? If the "best and the brightest" can do no better than war, do they any longer deserve the moniker "best and brightest?"

When was the last time anyone caught a bully actually building something?

Isn't war a reasonable marker of a Third World nation ... a Third World mind?

Not to worry: The U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, while depressing for some, can find glimmers of hope ... as from the U.S. commando raid in Africa.