We May Casually Talk Of All Sorts

The Fact Is That We Have Been Consistent In A Predictable 60-year Commitment To National Security, While Our Friends And Former Enemies - By Intent Or Default - Have Followed Different Paths Since 1989. We Stayed Mostly The Same As They Became Hypopowers That, To Take A Small Example, Would And Could Do Nothing Should A Madman In Korea Wish To Kill Millions.

Did Either The Nonexistent Or The Measured Response After A Series Of Attacks On Americans The Past Decade - In Lebanon, Africa, Saudi Arabia, New York, And Yemen - Suggest To Our Terrorist Enemies That It Was Wrong And Unwise To Kill Reasonable And Affable People, Or Did The Easy Killing Imply That Self-absorbed And Pampered Lotus-eaters Would Not Much Care Who Or How Many Were Butchered As Long As It Was Within Reasonable Numbers And Spread Out Over Time?

War Seems To Come Out Of Nowhere, Like Rust That Suddenly Pops Up On Iron After A Storm.

Stalin And Mao Killed Over 80 Million And Did Not Make Omelets Despite The Broken Eggs.

In History, One Gathers Clues Like A Detective, Tries To Present An Honest Account Of What Most Likely Happened, And Writes A Narrative According To What We Know And, Where We Aren't Absolutely Sure, What Might Be Most Likely To Have Happened, Within The Generally Accepted Rules Of Evidence And Sources.