“The people who are paying the costs, military families, veterans, civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan—those people deserve to have their story told,” says Professor Catherine Lutz of Brown University.

"President Obama needed to provide a more affirmative vision of successes in Iraq, a vision that casts it as a victory over totalitarianism, which has always been a central aspect of America's civilizing mission."

Political philosopher Tod Lindberg, author of "The Political Teachings of Jesus," reflects on the role of values in presidential approaches to foreign policy and how to translate ethics into policy.