"The longer we allow the administration to delay meaningful movement, and the longer we fail to extract ourselves from this quagmire, the more dangerous this failed foreign policy becomes to America and the rest of the world, " the lawmakers said.

CNN: Anti-war House Dems demand 'clear timeline' for pullout

The political reality in Washington cannot be easily changed, but fortunately, it is easy to profit from the Washington quagmire.

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"The ever-present threat of a far-reaching financial collapse from the worsening quagmire in Greece and Italy generated a raft of daily headlines that injected a high level of trading volatility, " it said.

BBC: Eurozone's growth has stalled, says EU

In 1988, as the Soviets began withdrawing from what had become an Afghan quagmire, bin Laden and Ayman el-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and the head of a radical jihadist group, joined to create al Qaeda, dedicated to a more expansive view of holy war.

WSJ: Bin Laden Was Nurtured in Ease, Destined for Infamy

So President Reagan decided to withdraw U.S. forces from what would likely become a major military quagmire for the United States, instead of a multinational peacekeeping operation.

CNN: Before taking on Syria, U.S. should heed lesson of the past