...and now Libya.

Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. Let your mind and heart and emotions speak to you; let the realities of our experience and history inform you; let your highest hopes and worst fears have their say, too. And whether all that offers up joy, despair, bewilderment, or a confusion of all three, let's at least hope for an end sooner rather than later, a more representative government, a better society for Libya resulting--and at the lowest possible cost of life and resources.

And may we learn whatever there is to learn from it all. Our collective sense of national discernment can use all the insight, wisdom and refinement our experience and history offers.

As for me, I share the humanitarian values and goals that motivate President Obama. But the experience and lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan cast a long, cautioning shadow over the best intentions and hopefulness that animate this intervention in Libya. I am not optimistic; I expect a longer, more painful and expensive process than NATO plans. Still, we are there, and I join everyone else who hopes and prays those best intentions are realized.