A nation that has never known anything but
military victory has recently twice had to settle for a draw, not
because we have really been beaten, but
because our very intoxication with our own power has led us into untenable situations where the cost of «
victory» became so great that it was no longer tolerable.
In fact,
because we failed to take advantage of the momentum of our
military victory,
because we failed to deliver services and let Iraqis choose their leaders early on, our
military presence in vast and visible numbers has become part of the problem, not the solution.