I vividly recall in the 90′s having an argument with a left of center friend of mine about the consequences of the Clinton adminstration’s negligence in the area of national security policy. My friend shrugged his shoulders and challenged me to name any nation who could challenge us militarily. I didn’t bother answering him, but knowing my history I told him I didn’t know who it would be but sometime in the near future we would find out the hard way. That debate happened in the year 1999.

In the subsequent 13 years I’ve watched as the scales fell away from the collective nations eyes after 9/11 then gradually returned in the aftermath of the Afghan and Iraq wars, and now this spectacle taking place in Egypt and Libya.

I suppose it’s to our nations credit that we have such a distaste for playing the role of global hegemon, and the sacrifices that that entails. But it’s only a matter of time before what’s now taking place in the Middle East is once again going to have effects that reach our soil. I know it like I knew it 13 years ago.

Obama did nothing extraordinary here. This was a very simply situation. Hamas bombards Israel with rockets. Israel shoots back. Israel says it will continue to retaliate so long as Hamas continues to fire rockets. Hamas says ok we’re done now.