CHARLIE WILSON’S PEACE: In the Washington Post, Charlie Wilson — yes that one — writes:

As we commit troops to the “war on terror,” America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development continue to be chronically undermanned and underfunded. We spend 1 percent of the federal budget on these critical elements of our foreign policy, compared with 22 percent on the military and weapons.

While I have always believed in and fought for a strong defense, I know that we cannot rely on the military alone to keep us secure. As the situations in Afghanistan and Georgia suggest, our future threats are likely to come from states that cannot meet the basic needs of their people. We can avoid the need to spend so much on our military — and put so many of our soldiers in harm’s way — simply by investing more in saving lives, creating stable societies and building economic opportunity.

That sounds like the “nation-building” that George W. Bush derided in 2000, but I think we’ve learned better since then.