History Never Repeats

In 1989, Tom Friedman wrote of Israel in From Beirut to Jerusalem:

“Indeed, instead of entering Lebanon with a real knowledge and understanding of the society and its actors, Israel simply burst in with tanks, artillery, and planes in one hand and a fistful of myths in the other..”

Substitute “the United States” for Israel, and “Iraq” for Lebanon, and I think you may have a perfectly crafted sentence to describe the  last half decade of American history.