From the Washington Post, 9/10/10 :  “After nearly nine years of nation-building in Afghanistan, experts said, the U. S.  faces mounting evidence that it has helped assemble one of the most corrupt governments in the world.”

Speaking of advice that presidents fail to heed, consider:  Britain failed to win a war in Afghanistan, then the Russians repeated that mistake. Hegel advised that history repeated once is tragedy,  twice a farce.  But what did Hegel know?  He hadn’t read General Petraeus’ book on counter-insurgency.