In Search of Monsters to Destroy: American Empire in the New Millennium

摘要

With the coldly calculated use of terror, the perpetrators of September 11, 2001 served abrupt notice of challenge to United States global dominance. The seemingly easy path before Americans that had appeared to stretch out well into the 21st century - promising boundless economic growth, a worldwide embrace of U.S. values, an absence of rivals - stood blocked by the rubble in New York and Washington. In tallying the costs buried within the debris of 9/11, Americans need to look beyond the lost lives and shattered dreams and recognize that defense of the empire they possess will not come cheaply. But first they must accept the fact of empire. Those who argue the U.S. has no empire to uphold whistle past the graveyard, ignoring the historically unparalleled confluence of political, economic, military, and information power that have come together in the American imperial construct. The U.S. holds sway over the world, an empire inviting admiration, envy, and, as with all empires before it, challenge.