But This Will Only Mean

That we'll have twice as many Afghan soldiers shooting at us.

Now here's a spectacularly bad idea:

"Gates Pushing Plan to Double Afghan Army" (In the New York Times (August 7), Robert M. Gates (of George W. Bush administration fame; not Bill Gates of Microsoft fame), said that inasmuch as we're, ahem, not winning (as somehow distinct from losing) the war we began in such hopes in Afghanistan, we should throw good money after bad. We should arm, train, and pay the men who will shortly be taking aim at our soldiers. Employ Twice The Usual Suspects, in fact. Apparently, the will to believe can eclipse all evidence, gathered over, literally, millenia. And persuade some to believe that if we keep doing what hasn't yet worked, only do more of it, it's bound to start working soon. Much like the idea that if we punish people for being people, soon they'll stop being people. All that gambling and drinking and smoking and drug use and sexual activity will cease. It's magic, don't you know. As in Just Say No. That's certainly proved effective.
And so, the Afghans will lay down their arms, lie down with the lion, and (to quote a soon-to-be-recent-ex-vice-president) welcome us with open arms. Hell, Alexander the Great couldn't get these guys to stop fighting, and he was a heckuva lot better leader than anybody in the White House presently.