ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) as currently defined and waged is dangerously indiscriminate and ambitious, and accordingly that its parameters should be readjusted to conform to concrete United States security interests and the limits of American power. There is no evidence that rogue state use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is undeterrable via credible threats of unacceptable retaliation or that rogue states seek WMD solely for purposes of blackmail and aggression. United States may be compelled to lower its political expectations in Iraq and by extension the Middle East. The war against Iraq was a detour from, not an integral component of, the war on terrorism; in fact, Operation Iraqi Freedom may have expanded the terrorist threat by establishing a large new American target set in an Arab heartland. The unexpectedly large costs incurred by Operation Iraqi Freedom and its continuing aftermath probably will not affect funding of the cheap counterterrorist campaign against al-Qaeda.
