Why Are We In Iraq?

The United States has always been interventionist. What is new is the absence of a doctrine — or even an honest principle or two. (NYTimes Magazine - Requires registration.)

EL - Great article.

Pax Americana must be multilateral, as Franklin Roosevelt realized, or it will not survive. Without clear principles for intervention, without friends, without dreams to serve, the soldiers sweating in their body armor in Iraq are defending nothing more than power. And power without legitimacy, without support, without the world's respect and attachment, cannot endure.