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TRIBALISM, GREED, AND THE ARROGANCE OF POWER:
THE MOTIVES OF AMERICAN MILITARISM
By Steve Damours
Since the end of the Cold War a number of American leaders
have become increasingly hostile to international laws and institutions that
might limit their power to dominate world events. They have become increasingly
prone to use or threaten military action. This coercive approach to foreign
policy has undermined respect for the U.S. and the values for which it stands,
and has replaced admiration with fear and resentment in the minds of much of the
world’s population.
I contend that the unilateralist and militaristic foreign policy is driven by
primitive motives and habits of thought that must be understood and countered
before the policies will change. Key among these psychological forces are
tribalism, greed, the arrogance of power, and a habit of thinking in terms of
win-lose games.
The U.S. Government has either pulled out of, refused to sign, refused to
ratify, or clearly violated treaties that limit U.S. military options, including
treaties to control landmines, biological weapons, nuclear weapons
proliferation, ballistic missile technology, torture, and other kinds of
international criminal conduct such as war crimes prohibited by the
International Criminal Court. In 2003 the U.S. violated the UN Charter and its
own values by attacking another nation based on flimsy and fabricated
intelligence. A majority of members of Congress across the political spectrum
either supported this decision or acquiesced in it.
The financial costs of the war have been deferred, passed along to future
generations. A deeper cost is disillusionment with the integrity of the nation
and its leaders. The local costs inside the U.S. can be seen in casualties and
trauma that have fallen on the poorest families and communities, those whose
sons and daughters have few alternatives to military service.
The policies driven by the above-mentioned motives can be countered only by
exposing their malevolent underpinnings and advocating a return to the values on
which this country is based, and by establishing policies that are friendly to
global law and institutions.
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TRIBALISM, GREED, AND THE ARROGANCE OF POWER:
THE MOTIVES OF AMERICAN MILITARISM
By Steve Damours
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