"A flag conservative is another matter. They rely on manipulation. What they want is power. They believe in America. That they do. They believe this country is the only hope of the world and they feel that this country is becoming more and more powerful on the one hand, but on the other, is rapidly growing more dissolute. And so the only solution for it is empire, World Empire. Behind the whole thing in Iraq is the desire to have a huge military presence in the near-East as a stepping stone for eventually taking over the world. Once we become a twenty-first century version of the old Roman Empire, then moral reform will come into the picture. The military is obviously more puritanical than the entertainment media. Soldiers can, of course, be wilder than anyone, but the overhead command is a major pressure on soldiers, and it is not permissive."
The tone of the interview gave me that impression that this thesis is hardly conjectural, and I have no doubt the Bush clique has this in their plus column -- at least as a desirable side benefit. But the idea that it is the "TRUE target" is BS, unless you're inclined to think that unconsciously hot ideas about controlling sexuality are somehow more true and real than consciously hot ideas about world domination. They want to extend their control over the whole world, oil, emancipatory excesses, the whole kit and kaboodle. I don't understand why Zizek feels he needs to be tentative about this at all. Randy
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