Heading for the Exits

Both Republicans and Democrats in America have had their fill of military ventures in Arab-Muslim regions. The wars are ending, but the fighting continues.

Obama wants to leave Afghanistan. He also wants to leave Iraq, and he wants to end U.S. involvement in NATO’s war against Gadhafi in Libya as quickly as possible. Not only are the costs too high, but America is also already deeply in debt. Above all, there is a growing awareness that war has failed as a means of fighting terrorism and accelerating democratization. Nearly 10 years after 9/11, an era of global intervention draws to a close. Both Republicans and Democrats in America have had their fill of military ventures in Arab-Muslim regions.

This mood will quickly spill over into NATO and Europe. Defending freedom in the Hindu Kush — that was yesterday. Osama bin Laden is dead, and al-Qaida has learned with lightning speed how to relocate its command centers: today in Afghanistan, tomorrow in Somalia, the day after that in Yemen. Tanks and bombs are useless in that kind of operation. Though the wars are drawing to an end, the fighting still continues. Drones and cyber warfare: These are the tactics of the future. It therefore behooves the West to take every measure to ensure it maintains its technological and informational advantages.