John Newhouse, who covered foreign policy for The New Yorker and served in two different administrations, argues that the Bush administration squandered a unique opportunity in the aftermath of 9/11, when a headline in Le Monde proclaimed, “We are all Americans.” Newhouse describes the ways in which America’s relationship with much of the world went wrong after the events of September 11, the moment when most nations were ready to accept U.S. leadership in a war against terrorism. He contends that the imperial path exemplified by the Iraq war being charted by the Bush administration will make the United States more vulnerable. Is America becoming an empire? And will empire make us safer?