>the impending war will have four important
>objectives:
>
>1. Restore confidence in American might & invulnerability, shaken by
>the Pentagon bombing;
>
>2. Coerce all the Arab regimes into backing America again
>unequivocally,
>3. Bury, likewise, the European complaints against recent displays of
>American unilateralism;
>
>4. Free the U.S. government to test the acceptance of "greater risk
>to American forces,"
I'm struck by the ideological character of the response. Not wishing to minimise these outwardly projected aspects of the campaign, it is still the inner demons that drive the whole thing forward.
At root the failure of US campaigns abroad is because they are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist abroad, but at home: The elite's own loss of confidence in its right to rule.
(Of course that's no compensation to those who are made human sacrifice to this inner failing.) -- James Heartfield