Stanton's Corollary To Santayana's Theorem.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana

"I remember the past, but the present I'm a little unclear about."
- Stanton Jonas

In a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Stanton Jonas argues [scroll down to the last letter] that the United States should aid Libyan rebels, calling it "one chance to oust Moammar Gadhafi and free the Libyan people."

Well, maybe, maybe not - even taking as read the argument that the country is currently ruled by a despot, that's still no guarantee that the next government will be any better.

But my favourite part of his letter is the part in which Mr. Jonas cites as a model for the action he proposes the American "'intervention' which led to the ill-equipped Afghans defeating the mighty Russians in Afghanistan."

Because things in Afghanistan have turned out so well.