afghanistan, but all over the globe. we've used the idea that we are in this global war as the justification for us doing all kinds of things. exerting all kinds of power that would otherwise be not just indefensible for a country with a constitution like ours, not just indefensible, but almost unimagining. in this global war of ours they said from the beginning would not end because there was going to be a winner declared. there couldn't be. it's not that kind of war. if that's the case and being in war footing is what justifies this behavior we wouldn't otherwise be participating in, one does this war end? when do we get to say the global war we declared more than 11 years ago is now over? today for the first time, a u.s. government official started talking about how this ends. >> now that efforts by the u.s. military against al qaeda are in their 12th year, we must also ask ourselves, how will this conflict end? >> this is the top lawyer at the