Mark: No real argument there. Nor–I forgot to say, because I was responding only tangentially to Jonah’s column–do I have any real argument with the central point in that column, viz. that boomer liberals are toe cheese. Still, your suggestion that “it’s not in America’s interest for it to become the received wisdom that any foreign politician in a turbulent nation who aligns himself with Washington is setting himself up for a Foggy Bottom sucker-punch and a violent end” prompts some reflection… and would do so even if it were not the case that the actual politicians of actual Iraq are just now packing their bags for a month’s vacation. What is really not in America’s interest is for us to go into wars we do not intend to conclude swiftly and decisively, and with the prior understanding that (a) Brief, ferocious punitive or monitory expeditions against regimes that have vexed us are likely to leave major chaos behind when concluded; and (b) Complete pacification of largely-unfriendly, nation-sized populations is likely only possible by “Roman” methods; if we can’t stomach those methods, we should not embark on such projects.