Overflight, 122

In advanced modern democratic societies, the war system … has served as the last great safeguard against the elimination of necessary social classes. As economic productivity increases to a level further and further above that of minimum subsistence, it becomes more and more difficult for a society to maintain distribution patterns insuring the existence of "hewers of wood and drawers of water."…
The arbitrary nature of war expenditures and of other military activities make them ideally suited to control these essential class relationships… The continuance of the war system must be assured, if for no other reason, among others, than to preserve whatever quality and degree of poverty a society requires as an incentive, as well as to maintain the stability of its internal organization of power.» …
«When asked how best to prepare for the advent of peace, we must first reply, as strongly as we can, that the war system cannot responsibly be allowed to disappear until 1) we know exactly what it is we plan to put in its place, and 2) we are certain, beyond reasonable doubt, that these substitute institutions will serve their purposes in terms of the survival and stability of society… It is uncertain, at this time, whether peace will ever be possible. It is far more questionable … that it would be desirable even if it were demonstrably attainable.»

As mentioned previously, the think−tank and talent pool for the implementation of this strategy has been the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1996, the Managing Editor of the CFR’s monthly journal, Foreign Affairs, was Fareed Zakaria, who offered the following rationalization:
«Yes, it’s tempting to get rid of Saddam. But his bad behavior actually serves America’s purposes in the region… If Saddam Hussein did not exist, we would have to invent him… The end of Saddam Hussein would be the end of the anti−Saddam coalition. Nothing destroys an alliance like the disappearance of the enemy… Maintaining a long−term American presence in the gulf would be difficult in the absence of a regional threat.»

Overflight