SINCE 1989 the United States has had an almost perfect record of winning wars and losing the peace—or failing to achieve peace in the first place. The scorecard begins not with the 1991 Persian Gulf War but with the proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Children of the 1980s can recall when Afghan freedom fighters were celebrated the same way the Ukrainians are today.
Losing the peace also means losing it at home. When Americans look back on a war, what do they see? Do they remember why George H.W. Bush’s approval ratings shot into the stratosphere in 1991, or do they remember the aftermath of “Gulf War syndrome” and domestic terrorism? Do they view the results of the Iraq War or Afghan War with pride or shame? Do they place more or less faith in the policymakers responsible for those wars?
