Instead, they are coming up with all sorts of reasons as to why their Afghanistan intervention turned out to be such a big debacle. They say that they've learned how to do better with future interventions.

One of the favorite lessons they have learned from this fiasco is encapsulated in the phrase "forever wars." Some interventionists now say that converting the Afghanistan war into a "forever war" was the big mistake.  They say that what they should have been done is just invade, quickly capture or kill Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda, and quickly oust the Taliban regime and replace it with a pro-U.S. regime. Then, quickly get out. No "forever war."