Master, how long will it take for me to reach enlightenment?” the eager student asked. “Perhaps ten years,” the teacher answered. “But what if I try extra hard?” the student asked. “How long will it take then?” The teacher thought for a moment and smiled. “Then,” he said, “it will take twenty years.”
     Anyone who has studied Eastern philosophy or martial arts will have heard the story in one form or another, but it has special application to President Barack Obama’s escalating intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The harder he tries to win a military confrontation in the two countries or to engage in a major effort to reform them, the longer and deeper he will find himself sucked into unwinnable wars and inescapable quagmires.

http://www.truthout.org/060109R