No Graceful Exit by Bob Herbert

I wish Obama would listen to sage advice like the following, instead of the military/industrial complex.  But we know who owns him and any politician who makes it to the higher echelons in the political ranks.  A sad, sad story of our democratic republic, once so promising, but now in its waning days.  Earth humanity is not yet evolved enough to overcome the temptations of greed and power lust in those who scramble over each other to reach the top.  On this planet, no one is ever satisfied with a little power or a little money -- "just enough" is not a term any of the elite recognize.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/opinion/17herbert.html?_r=1&hp

EXCERPTS:
I stand in awe of the heights of hypocrisy scaled by conservative politicians and strategists who demand that budget deficits be brought under control while cheering the escalation in Afghanistan and calling for ever more tax cuts here at home....

Sept. 11, 2001, was nearly a decade ago, and the war in Afghanistan was hopelessly bungled by the Bush crowd. There is no upside to President Obama’s escalation of this world-class fiasco.

We are never going to build a stable, flourishing society in Afghanistan. What we desperately need is a campaign of nation-building to counteract the growing instability and deterioration in the United States.