While there is little specific in your writing that I directly disagree with, something about the style and tone remind of a lot of the writing out in the late 90's prior to 9/11. The common theme I was seeing at that time was that the role of the US and the DoD was to be a "global good neighbor". What was meant by this was that we needed to support and foster democratic governments wherever possible to reduce the animosity towards our country.
While some of that appealed to the humanitarian in me, much of it sounded like the "democratic manifesto". This I felt would be seen as hostility in many parts of the world. History has validated this as far as I am concerned. If you want to be a "global good neighbor" you have to value all human life and treat people as equals. I feel that this is likely beyond our means as well. Ideology and absolutes tend to bite us in the rear. I appreciate your attempts to avoid absolutes in your writing, but an ideological undertone remains. SO what is the US and DoD's role in the world? So the GWOT is a non-starter, but what do we replace it with? What resources does the State Department need and where do we get them from? If I did not value what you have written so far, I would not push as hard, since proving people wrong is not my thing.
Reed