In his intervention in Lebanon's civil war, President Reagan made a rare blunder. But when our Marines were massacred, he did not send a mighty army to avenge them. He used U.S. power to exact a price, then extricated us from that war. There is no vital American interest at risk in all these religious, territorial and tribal wars from Algeria to Afghanistan. Let us pay back those who did this, then let us extricate ourselves. Either America finds an exit strategy from empire, or we lose our republic.
We are not "empire building" in the Middle East. We have vital, national interests in that part of the world because we get most of our oil from there. We also have an interest in supporting democracy wherever it tries to establish itself.
Islamic terrorists are at war with us and everything we believe in. It's a matter of national interest and self-preservation. We have no intent or desire to establish an American "empire," as Pat constantly proclaims.
In short, he's wrong from the beginning. Sounds like a good title for his next book.