As much as in pains me.....

.....I have say Max Boot is almost right.
One of the things that angers me most about Cheney's war for oil in Iraq is that it has made it impossible for us to win a war that needed to be fought and needed to be won. Of course I'm talking about Afghanistan. Max Boot makes a good point here, just not the one he meant to.
Going it alone because we have to
He points out correctly that our NATO allies have so slashed their military budgets that it is almost impossible for the US to not act unilaterally. Of course Max wouldn't agree that this makes it more important for the US to not enter in wars of choice - wars for oil, read Iraq. Now I will assume that the Bush/Cheney administration thought that NATO would be a bigger player in Afghanistan. Of course they shouldn't have and that too is a sin.

The primary culprit is declining defense spending among U.S. allies. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, defense budgets among NATO members, excluding the U.S., have fallen from 2.49% of gross domestic product in 1993 to 1.8% of GDP in 2005.

Yes they should have know. Of course I could also assume the the Bush/Cheney cabal knew and just didn't care.

The point Max Boot makes is not the one he intended to make, no optional wars. But other than that his right.