Let’s say we run into trouble in this war–so much trouble that the doves seem emboldened and vindicated. I don’t think it would end there. A shift to pacifism is impossible now. Terrorism will return. A Korea crisis looms. Nuclear proliferation is in the offing. Even a very successful chemical attack on our soldiers would have complicated effects. It would discourage, yet also enrage us, spur WMD proliferation outside the West, and eventually force more conflict, not less. So for all our concerns about discouraging news coverage–about our inability to break our preoccupation with pin-prick “defeats” and keep our eyes on big-picture progress–I think this war, almost in spite of ourselves, is making us tougher.