The empire cannot drone-strike its way out of decline

There is a moment in every war, somewhere between the first triumphant press conference and the first encounter with reality, when the slogans begin to turn rancid.

Television panels flash maps. Talking heads bloviate. Officials insist that everything is proceeding according to plan. But you can’t outrun the truth forever. The central lie on which the war rested begins to collapse under the crushing weight of events.

Thomas Jefferson warned us more than two centuries ago: ‘Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.’ That remains the sanest policy available.

No one should sugarcoat what has happened: America has been defeated by a lesser regional power.

I was horrified when the war began. I said then that if the initial strikes failed to decapitate the