[Austin Willard Wright]

Well....that doesn’t answer the question.

[pissant]

Well, if I reject your characterization of what we are doing, then I guess it wouldn’t. LOL

[wideawake]

The US cannot avoid the fact that it is the wealthiest and most powerful country on earth.

It is the wealthiest nation on earth because it engages in commerce on a vast scale and it is the most powerful ebcause of its wealth.

That commerce is an engine of prosperity, but it carries with it externalities as well.

Human nature being what it is, wealth and success foster resentment and envy among the poor and the incompetent.

America has two choices: to pretend the outside world does not exist and discontinue all external intercourse including commerce, or to interact with the outside in order to shape it to our interests.

Since the first days of the Republic the US has chosen the latter course and the Constitution under which we live was drafted precisely because the Republic chose this latter course.

America is the responsible world actor because no one else is up to the task.

[Lexinom]

Three words: "Compelling national interest."

One can certainly try to make a case, as the Left has, that there was none in Iraq, but avoiding a second 9/11 fits the criteria.