With the possible exception of World War Two in Europe, when the Allied powers could pat themselves on the back for fighting a Nazi regime of unparalleled monstrosity, every war in recorded history has ended on a decidedly sour note. Even in the case of World War Two, Great Britain was reduced by the depredations of battle to penury and a future as a second-rate power, and we had almost fifty years of frightening nuclear brinkmanship with our former Russian allies to look forward to. Meanwhile, the psychological and physical wounds of that war afflicted a generation of young men and drove a strange combination of paranoia and hubris in our foreign policy that eventually drew us into the morass of Vietnam. Worse still, the losers tend to be disinclined to acknowledge their losses, and the humiliation of defeat today Read more