This is a huge and growing problem for America. You can say, "We gotta do what we gotta do!" But when your war is waged--inevitably--within the context of the everything else that is globalization (What is globalization? It sure provides more work-arounds than gate-keepers), that just isn't good enough. That attitude gets you stalemates at best, and quagmires at worst.
Me? I like to win--all the time And America can't win with a rule-set population of 1-and-a-half (us and hardliners in Israel) in a world of close to a couple hundred (and counting) statesl
That, my friends, is the grand strategy equivalent of pissing in the wind. Basically, it's a terrible way of washing your socks (I prefer taking myself to the cleaners).
Bush first-term was great for establishing the need for a new rule set on global security.
Bush second-term has been a disaster in getting buy-in from the world. So bad, in fact, that he risks leaving the global security order far worse than he found it, and that's too bad, because I believe he was the right man for the job. He just stayed too long at his post.