Years ago, while eating lunch with my partners in our law firm's library, long before I had ever heard of George W. Bush or Saddam Hussein or of the neoconservative movement, I opined that the greatest threat to world peace was the United States because the U.S. is (1) extremely and intentionally militarily powerful and (2) extremely and increasingly dependent on foreign resources to sustain our standard of living which we consider "ours" as a matter of right. I am a former Marine officer and Vietnam vet and considered the opinion I offered as almost self-evident. My partners (and friends) however reacted to my statement as if I had questioned the legitimacy of their births. The U.S. 'defense' budget now is roughly equal to the combined military budgets of all the world's other nations and our dependency on foreign resources is even greater than it was when I shocked my partners. Can there be any surprise that much of the rest of the world considers the US a threat?
FEBRUARY 15, 2007 7:25 AM