let's try staying there for 200 years...

2-27-08—[After 6 years] the Afghan government under President Karzai controls just 30% of the country, the top US intelligence official said. WSJ A1

--The fragility of the American military is in a sense structural---a consequence of having never fought an adversary its own size at any time in history. . . . The recent circulation of the idea of a bloodless war, at least in the United States, is the culmination of an original preference for asymmetrical confrontations. This concept admits and gives formal validation to the traditional weakness of the American ground forces. [Todd, AFTER EMPIRE (2002) 80,81

--Political momentum in Iraq hit a sudden roadblock on Wednesday when a feud between the largest Shiite factiosn led to the veot of a law that had been passed with great fanfare lat week. The law had been heralded by the Bush administration as a breakthrough for national reconciliation. NYT A8

--The American ruling class is even more rudderless and clueless than its European counterparts who are so often criticized for their weakness. . . [Todd, AFTER EMPIRE (2002) 128]