For good or ill, when we launch a war we are guiding the path of history in a much more deliberate way than when we simply fight back. We are imagining a future and fighting forward, towards that future. We still try to couch the enterprise in defensive terms, since this is the premise of so much international law of armed conflict (the UN Charter) and domestic politics (the Department of Defense - not, as it was for many years, the Department of War). And we have here some good defensive arguments under international law, particularly the one that links this invasion of Iraq back to Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, and his breach of the ceasefire terms.

But whatever the justifications, this American invasion seems contrary to a long-taught position that democracies are slow to war and then only wage them in self-defense. I wonder if it was ever true in America. We have always pushed our defensive perimeter way, way forward. The reason we have so many soldiers buried overseas is that that is where they fought. America in the 19th century saw war on its soil with Britain, with Mexico (sort of), and a great civil war. In the 20th, just Pearl Harbor, and not many think of that as homeland. And here in the 21st: 9/11.

I believe this American President, right or wrong, sees this historical sweep. He may be deluded to think he can guide history to make the world a safer place for America. But I have no doubt this is what he is trying to do.

Does he also see it in terms of empire? We beat Germany and Japan, occupied them, installed democracies, and keep troops there to this day. There are US military bases in Afghanistan. You better believe, even after the re-democratization of Iraq, there will be US bases there.

On the other hand – and here is where it gets really interesting – we are probably going to see our troops pulled out of Germany soon. We will probably withdraw them from Saudi Arabia because with Iraq pacified they will no longer be needed. I wonder if we will stay in Turkey.

It is an empire. But the Romans were in and out with their garrisons, they played the local politics, it was not the same from place to place, things changed. Same with us.

But who are our Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, and Huns, and when do they sack us?