The brilliant Thomas Sowell has turned 75. Among other wisdom his column offers this reminder:

After Churchill was appointed Prime Minister, he said to his chauffeur: "I hope that it is not too late. I am very much afraid that it is. We can only do our best." He had tears in his eyes.

The war would be more than three years old before the British -- or anyone else -- won a major battle against the Nazi war machine. When the British finally won a battle against the German army in North Africa near the end of 1942, Churchill declared frankly, "we have a new experience. We have victory."

Quite a quagmire, that World War II.