Today's Friends, Tomorrow's Mess

If Hitler invaded hell," Winston Churchill proclaimed during World War II, "I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil." Replace Hitler with Osama bin Laden and you have the sense of the current moment. The order of world devilry changesand with it the alliances between good and evil, black and white, which make up the gray world in which we actually live.

It was said of mercantile Britain that it had no permanent friends, only permanent interests. The U.S. is a power pursuing a mission it considers moral. Nonetheless, even the most principled fight must...