The President is just about ready to send more troops. Maybe 44 thousand, that's the number General McChrystal wants, bringing the total to over 100 thousand. When I read speculation last weekend that the actual number needed might be 600 thousand, I winced.

I can still see President Lyndon Johnson's face when he asked his generals how many years and how many troops it would take to win in Vietnam. One of them answered, "Ten years and one million." He was right on the time and wrong on the number-- two and a half million American soldiers would serve in Vietnam, and we still lost.

Reminds me of a quote from Vizzini (The Princess Bride): ""Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia."

The second being, never engage in a two wars at once.