Watch part two

Riz Khan speaks to Andrew Bacevich, the author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.

Bacevich served in the US army for more than 20 years, with a stint in Vietnam. He retired with the rank of colonel in the 1990s. He argues that the US has developed an over-reliance on military power, as opposed to diplomacy, to achieve its foreign policy aims.

He is critical of both the Democratic and Republican parties, but sided with Barack Obama, the US president-elect, saying he was the best hope to end the Iraq war and "cut the imperial presidency down to size".

Bacevich is a professor of international relations and history at Boston University. His son, Lt Andrew Bacevich, was killed last year in Iraq while serving with the US army.

This episode of Riz Khan aired on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at 2030 GMT.