Obama chooses his quagmire

It's well over a year before the U.S. presidential election, but Democratic candidate Barack Obama has already chosen his war. Iraq is Bush's war, so that won't do. Obama will pull out of Iraq. Instead, he has warned Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf that if he doesn't take a stronger stand against terrorists in his country, the Americans under an Obama presidency would invade and do the job themselves.

Obama chooses his folly well. The Hindu Kush has a long history as a quagmire for foreign armies.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has been out-machoing Obama and apparently it's working as her popularity rises and his falls. She voted to go into Iraq, of course, and has been dismissing his willingness to talk with nations like Iran and Cuba without conditions as naive. She seems to be ahead on the testosterone scale and this is worrying her opponent.

It appears the "war" on terror will survive the next American presidential election regardless of who wins. And so will bogging down the country in foreign military adventures. Plus ca change ....