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But the Bush Administration has let the cat out of the bag. It has exposed to the world the limits of U.S. military power -- both ithe size of the forces (divisions, troops) and the relative ineffectiveness of those forces on a complex social and political battlefield like the one America faces in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
Even more to the point, Bush has signaled that the financial and political burdens of unilateralism are simply too great for any U.S. administration to carry for long. Forced to choose between greater mobilization at home (more troops, less tax cuts) and compromise abroad, Bush appears to have opted for the latter.
To the extent that this is true, the Captain Cluelesses of the world must be a little unhappy right now. In trying to project an aura of invincibility, we did the opposite.
Interesting.
Of course, cue the might make right crowd informing us that it's simply the lack of our steely resolve which is to blame.
Uh-huh.