Very good piece. I think the racket part applies to WWII and the alleged War on Terror. The US was (and still is in those areas) very involved in both situations from an imperial perspective to include military actions long before the official conflict start dates. We are not the innocent bystander who was assulted. We are a dishonest participant. To the comment about warfare having changed, the changes listed I disagree. War has always included non uniformed border crossings to cause death and destruction of the opposition and the oceans have never been a barrier except to the naive. Both the war for secesssion from Britain and the war of 1812 clearly demonstrate that. The only change is the same change for all of society, things happen faster so both you and your opponent have less reaction time.