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Armed drones will soon fly in Libya in order to help enforce the no-fly zone in place there, the White House announced last week. Drones have been a controversial military weapon over the past few years, and a new study by the British Defense Ministry, believes new technologies, such as drones, may mean we resort to military conflict much sooner and easier than before. Are drones really a useful tool in military conflict or do they just serve to escalate the situation? 

Nobody can argue that America’s place on the world's geopolitical stage is changing.  America is fighting a war in Afghanistan and maintaining ongoing military responsibilities in Iraq, while weathering a major financial crisis at home: There is reasonable concern over America’s ability to maintain the international diplomatic clout as it has for most of the 20th century.

We're asking you, our listeners, about America's role in the world now. What should it be? Leader? Helper? Should it be smaller? Bigger? Let us know in comments or text your answer to 69866 with the word TAKE.

Should the United States cede its role as the world's only superpower? Later today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will deliver a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, and there are serious questions about whether the United States should or could continue to be the driving force behind the world's foreign policy debates. Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University and author of "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War" joins us for a discussion.

Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations and history at Boston University, West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran, and author of Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War, discusses the origins of global US military presence, and challenges its efficacy.

This week will mark the eight-year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, and the casualty rate is ticking upward. The United States lost eight troops in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, lending more urgency to the debate over what the Obama administration's next steps will be in Afghanistan.

We talk to Andrew Bacevich, professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. He is author of "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism"; and Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and a former State Department analyst on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his new book The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (Metropolitan Books, 2008), Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations and history at Boston University, West Point graduate, and Vietnam veteran, critiques U.S. foreign policy and unilateral action but also points the finger at the U.S. citizenry.