Foreign Policy has a very interesting article whose thesis is that America is now in decline because of a number of factors, including:

• Public and private spending that is too heavily focused on military technology


• The damage to our economic interests from an attack on Iraq


• The likely failure of an attack on Iraq to "win" given the high risk of casualties and the lack of public support for combat leading to significant losses


• The collapse in our world stature and leadership when we, as the foremost military power in history, fail to create a sustainable regime to follow Saddam Hussein