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While the American culture may not be war-dependent, there is a strong tendency for wars and military action to be supported. In a Gallup poll in February, 2001, a majority of Americans supported military action versus Iraq, and this was even before 9/11 and the connection between Al Qaida and Iraq. This means that even before George W. Bush served Americans a reason to go to war, Americans already had one.

This willingness to go to war represents both a strength and a weakness for the US. The strength is that the country can protect its interests worldwide. The weakness is that the US can get unpopular, which can have both short term and long term consequences that are negative.

Being willing to go to war gives the US a formidable chance to preserve its interests worldwide. I would define these interest broadly, to include an international stability, and not purely economic and military interests. I would argue that in the early 1990s, it was in the American interest to keep the Middle East stable, while the same was the case for the Balkans during the 1990s.

But the willingness to go to war also has a downside. It makes the risk formidable that the US will enter into a war that it should not have. This has both short term and long term effects. In the short run, such wars may cost money and they may make the country seen less favorably worldwide. In the long run, such wars could make another country challenge the American position as superpower, which would mean reduced international power for the US.

I am obviously thinking about Iraq when I am writing this. The Iraq war may have been a wrong war, and it certainly lacked support internationally. Seeing that the American economy is doing bad and seeing Russia being far louder than they used to be, it is tempting to ascribe both to the unpopular Iraq war. Whether this is a correct or a wrong conclusion is hard to tell, but it should serve as a warning to Americans. Going to war is not a small decision to make and arguments should be considered. The media should never again call countries that oppose American war plans the Axis of weasels, but they should rather be respected. The American leadership should not attempt to force other countries into supporting wars they do not want to support, and they should attempt dialogue rather than threats.

With this in mind, the US should not be too careful either. This means that the US has to balance the need and figure out what wars are the right to fight and which are wrong. This is obviously no easy task, but it should be pursued regardless.

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