Not to make light of a dire, tragic, situation but rather to direct ridicule and sarcasm where it belongs.

I was on the phone with a friend earlier today. He paraphrased the line from Full Metal Jacket: 'Got a good deal for you on Afghan Army assault rifles, never fired and only dropped once.'

I countered with an old Dennis Miller line, putting it in the mouth of Biden: General, if I understand you correctly, the Afghan Army is folding faster than Superman on laundry day'.