An American Empire? The idea causes me to cringe, but an article on the NYT Magazine cover today argues that’s what we’ve got, like it or not. It deserves contemplation. A sample:

The disagreeable reality for those who believe in human rights is that there are some occasions — and Iraq may be one of them — when war is the only real remedy for regimes that live by terror. This does not mean the choice is morally unproblematic. The choice is one between two evils, between containing and leaving a tyrant in place and the targeted use of force, which will kill people but free a nation from the tyrant’s grip.