I think Ken has an accurate assessment of where we are.

Bob's World: Unfortunately, Petraeus decided he could kill his way out of this, and part of that has been allowing various ethnic groups to settle old scores by using or SOF troops to target their enemies.

Bill: I wouldn't use "selfish". I'd use "short-sighted". If you're ok with the US acting as a rogue state, randomly killing anyone in the world who displeases us, I guess CT is just fine. Sooner or later, the world will decide to put us down like a rabid dog, and frankly, they would be right to do so.

The underlying problem, is that AQ in Afghanistan and the Taliban were created by America, when it decided to exploit Afghans to bog down and ultimately destroy the Soviet Union using their country/sons and then discarding them when we were finished. If you LIKE the idea of the US being the modern equivalent of Nazi Germany on steroids, fine. Personally, I think that lack of ethics will bite us in the rear, again.