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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David in Ontario who wrote (21546)	2/20/2003 1:15:17 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27766

Easier said than done!!! Just look! A ragtag team of camel driving folks -- the Al-Qaeda --- and the N. Koreans have been driving the US up the wall and causing faces to flush red at the Pentagon for nearly 2 million seconds and counting!!! Revoke the trading status, eh? Whoa! That may be perceived as an invitation to hostilities or reactions that could cause the US endless headaches. In the event of a war, the US may bomb all they want with its superior weapons. But if this ever occurs, many Americans will also perish because the US no longer has the monopoly of nuclear and modern weapons. Also, the bleeding hearts at home will present a formidable opposition. Remember the Vietnam War? The very spectre of body bags returning home or of wholesale incineration/vaporization of infrastructure and human bodies will put a damper on otherwise trigger-happy folks! In other words, the enemy doesn't mind having many of its millions killed as long as they can also inflict casualties. Recall the human waves in N. Korea that relentlessly drove the allies to the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone). To be sure, Bush and his administration are very confident these days. But are they getting the full support of everyone at the snap of their fingers? Getting others' support has been like pulling teeth. So the US would want to do it alone? That may be OK against a puny country like Iraq. But going to war against a much bigger and stronger country than Iraq is a much different proposition. No doubt, the US will win. But are the losses it will no doubt sustain worth the effort. The upshot of it all may well be akin to mutual assured destruction! (MAD) To be sure, many things are easier said than done! By the way, the history of mankind is replete with episodes of the rise and fall of civilizations and of superpowers. For example, the British Empire that began in the late 1500s in the reign of Elizabeth I reached its zenith by about 1776. From then on, it started to decline. By the end of 1945, British prestige around the world had sunk to an all time low. Will the US be an exception to all that had happened to superpowers in history? Maybe? Will the Law of Cycles inexorably cease to exact its toll? Who knows? PS. When I wrote the US will be top-dog, I had meant undisputed top dog! You see, for half a century, while the Cold War was on, the US had a once formidable challenger ---- the USSR which has recently fallen into the dustbin of history.