How many of us remember clearly why we got into the costly, painful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?
And of great current relevance, who knows how we can get out – without unacceptable consequences?
After terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into New York skyscrapers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001 – 9/11 – the United States went to war in Afghanistan because Osama bin Laden, the instigator of the attacks, was based there.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq, then ruled by Saddam Hussein, came in 2003. It was based on the bipartisan view that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, and would use them.
How many Americans are engaged in those wars today? Those statistics, alas, are easier to provide than most other answers.