Occupying Afghanistan with an army to bring peace is like booking the Village People at the Westboro Baptist Church: NOT a result of due dilligence. Yet somehow, like an alcoholic, we collectively manage to convince ourselves it’s totally cool to have one more troop addition, before we quit.

The call for more is not just on Fox news, it’s everywhere: Last night Bill Maher’s panel consisted of reasonable, well informed liberals. Alec Baldwin, Chris Matthews and some politician I forget. In a time when Health Care reform’s main obstacle is the deficit, you’d expect the consensus around the table to be against escalation, if only for financial reasons.

Not so. Baldwin stated that pulling out of Afghanistan would not be the smartest thing to do. Matthews added that India would never stand for a Taliban dominated Pakistan.

After careful consideration, the panel reluctantly concluded that more troops were probably necessary.

Anyone willing to read can find out that the Taliban was born from resentment toward corrupt government, and brutal warlords. Disillusioned, most Mujahedin leaders had returned home after the war, as had Bin Laden. Disgusted with rape, theft, and the chaos preventing the existence of an economy, the puritan movement armed by the Pakistani secret police took over, welcomed by the desperate Afghani people.

When the Taliban turned out to be just as brutal as the warlords, Afghanis were getting ready to oust them like they had anyone imposing their will on them for centuries.

Then America invaded. Civilian casualties, ancient tribal traditions, and the fact we abandoned them after the Russians left made it impossible for the regular people to side with non indigenous liberators. The suggestion that American ground troops would stabilize the place is beyond laughable.

No matter what the reality, this nuclear talking point will likely spread like the balloon boy story. In the meantime, can anyone explain to me why Afghanistan should be freed from Sharia law, and not Saudi Arabia?