“The world is better, it’s safer, it’s more peaceful,” Barack Obama told U.S. troops over the holidays in announcing the official end of U.S. operations in Afghanistan. “It’s more prosperous and our homeland is protected because of you and the sacrifices [you make] each and every day.” It’s true that our military forces on the front lines against al-Qaida and other terrorist threat vectors around the world keep America safer, but the notion that the “world is better, it’s safer, it’s more peaceful” is a bold faced lie on every front.