Prophetic words

Salon.com | Prophetic words

The news this week that the protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are diminishing the U.S. military's ability to prosecute a possible next war should surprise exactly nobody.

In fairness, it might have surprised President Bush, who had just proclaimed, at his April 28 press conference, that this combat was certainly not diminishing our ability to wage war where and when we choose. But for residents of the real world, the news was predictable -- mostly because of the number of folks who have foretold it and fretted over it since even before the Iraq war bega

n.