As a, although lazy, professedly atheist American, it's a tad disconcerting to realize that at least 70% of our armed forces are Christians. (As per this New York Times article.) Who said the Holy Wars were over? Better yet, why did I think they were? No one did, it's just assumed when you study history that the things you're discussing belong in the past.
I realize I'm super late to the party, but suddenly the Iraqi war has an entirely different look to it. And you can make a far more compelling story out of it. I can almost read the textbook explanation, a hundred years from now: the USA, like all religious oligarchies, created a holy war on a trumped up 'threat', and allowed the government to extend it's control over the citizenry to a level not seen since the McCarthy era, or possibly never before, what with the proliferation of electronic tracking capabilities. Combined with the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression of 1929, this marked the end of the US's dominance in world politics, as the powerful elites and corporations in the US concentrated on building their personal wealth and spheres of influence within the states, largely leaving a power vacuum in the greater world political scene. During this period, US political corruption raised to the highest levels seen since the era of the Robber Barons. The loss of the US ethical corporate culture lead to a worldwide rise in corruption, particularly in the US's main trade partners. The two decades following, before the Middle Eastern democracies (MEds) rose to power and reimposed a level ethics in world trade, rolled back two centuries of progress in poverty reduction and human equity. They are also considered the most dangerous period in civilized history since the invention of the steam engine.
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