Trying to rebuild Afghanistan on the cheap has left the country in the hands of warlords and an impotent Northern Alliance puppet regime that runs Kabul and nothing else.

I would like to fire every cop in America and start from scratch. We don't need as many of them, and the whole model of policing is completely off the rails. For the most part, the police are engaged in very little protection of the public. That's probably 5 percent of what they do. The rest of it is writing tickets.

Do our government's poorly paid contract killers deserve our 'support' for blindly following orders?

The experts who managed the original Marshall Plan say Afghanistan needs a commitment of at least $5 to $10 billion over 5 to 10 years, coupled with occupation forces of 250,000 Allied soldiers to keep the peace throughout the country.

Imagine foreign troops sitting idly, laughing as hooligans trashed the Smithsonian, stole the gold from Fort Knox and burned down the Department of the Interior. That was us in Iraq.

On the ground, Pakistan is the most virulently anti-American state on the planet.

If I had to rank my skills, I have a long way to go before I can write a good graphic novel.