Decius wrote:

ubernoir wrote:
when the troops start to draw down will the scale of the violence resume?

Its quite possible, but I think more time is needed to tell.

America leaves less hung-ho, burnt but not beaten, with pride and wiser, less prone to semi-imperialistic adventures, still ready to hear the call, tempered, a better policeman??

Sounds like the plot from a Disney film. I wouldn't get too ambitious about people learning political lessons. It does seem to happen here. For some reason the anti-gay movement, for example, has lost truck loads of political power recently. It seems to happen quietly without fan fare. You simply wake up and certain things aren't polling as well, and its not clear why other than a large number of people at some point over the course of a few years sat down one evening and thought about it. It seems like it has to be out of the headlines for a little while for it to happen.

call it the Disney scenario if you like but American self confidence is an odd beast
example a, after defeat in Vietnam and the humiliation of the Iran Hostage crisis there was Grenada and the US reaction to the successful operation was out of all proportion
the world can't afford either a hung-ho America or the US sulking and retreating inside itself
or do you delude yourself that the American body politic is mature or rational -- we know people make decisions and rationalise them after the fact a large percentage of the time
example b, Iraq -- America was hurt by 9/11 and simply lashed out at the first target that wouldn't do exactly what it was told -- America can be just like a spoilt child
call it the zeitgeist or whatever but sometimes there is a collective mood
yes people as individuals learn political lessons but i'm really talking about something far more ephemeral and it's often most clearly seen in art
art is, in part at least, a culture dreaming -- exploring the aspirations and neuroses of the age
compare mid/late 70s and early 80s Hollywood
it's all discourse -- memes -- dreams -- the cultural subconscious

RE: The Iraq war | Why they should stay | Economist.com