An Anniversary of Shame

Fifteen years ago, Americans given a glimpse of the future wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the nation was still observing a day of remembrance for 9/11. But they would likely have been shocked to know the country was still enmeshed today in the farther-reaching historical tragedy that 9/11 spawned. Today, in large part through our own strategic and tactical errors, a conflict that started as a contained, focused campaign—an attempt to root out a small band of terrorists who had one lucky day—has grown exponentially. First it became the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Now we have begun to call it the Forever War. It is already, by many years, America’s longest war ever (if war it...