The Cost of War:

Nicholas Kristof makes a strong case for shifting American policy from war to education in Afghanistan in today's New York Times. According to Kristof, the cost for keeping one American soldier in Afghanistan is equivalent to the price for building 20 schools.

So why has President Obama followed the route of the previous administration in pumping even more money into the war effort? Votes. The same reason JFK and LBJ followed a failed Vietnam strategy. The White House, regardless of who occupies it, is incapable, apparently, of standing up to the military-industrial complex that profits so highly from a state of war.

Some of the money, naturally, goes into soldiers' paychecks, but that amount is pennies compared to the dollars that enrich the arms manufacturers. Not to mention the mercenary industry that has taken over so much of what the military used to do.

And let's not forget the generals, whose careers only advance during a time of war.