Four Decades Later, LAPD Still In Watts.

The other day, a friend asked me, "So why do you suppose we went into Iraq without a timetable for pulling out?"

I said, "When do you suppose we're going to finally bring the troops home from Europe?"

She said, "I was talking about Iraq."

I said, "So was I. And Afghanistan. And Korea. And Japan."

Point of information: in 1989, over forty years after WWII, the U.S. still had 250,000 troops in Europe, not counting families. They helped us win the Cold War, and now we're at half that. My sister, Jo, was born in Germany, when my father was sent there to help keep the Soviet Union from starving the non-Soviet zones of Berlin into submission.

After Six Decades, No End To The Quagmire makes the same point, but is funnier.