Along the same theme, Steyn has an excellent column this week with one outstanding line that I have to share here:

Imperialism requires a certain dotty élan. Without it, it’s no fun. You’re just a guy holed up in a Third World dump occasionally venturing out in the full RoboCop to pretend to implement some half-assed multilateral “nation-building” strategy that NATO defence ministers all agreed to at some black-tie banquet in Brussels and then promptly forgot about.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/07/01/w...ma-has-got-us/