Reply #5: This is an issue of continuing interest to me.

[bemildred]

I have felt from the beginning that the major flaw, strategically,
in the PNAC approach was that it runs the risk of exposing our
relative weakness. It is a bluff, we are not actually capable of
defeating the whole world, we cannot even pacify Iraq, and like all
bluffs, if it fails one stands exposed.

In chess there is a saying: the threat is stronger than the move.
The US could have, IMHO, maintained its international position
better had it refrained from actually employing force, and had
it found it necessary to employ force, had it stuck with the lessons
learned in VietNam about clear goals, well-defined exit strategies,
and not hanging around where one makes a tempting target.