The air strikes began much as everyone had imagined: U.S. planes, backed by British cruise missiles, swooped down from the clouds and dropped their payloads on poor, doomed Afghanistan. They came in waves, one after another, trying to hit their targets and dodge antiaircraft fire. But there was more than just bombs falling from the sky. Air Force C-17 cargo planes began dropping pouches of food, thousands upon thousands of "culturally neutral," vitamin-fortified rice cakes, each stamped with the American flag and the words: THIS FOOD IS A GIFT FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The war on Osama bin Laden...