More on Greenwald's Abu Ghraib Theory of Foreign Affairs

And the need of the neocons to prove that we are mighty while all other countries must cower.

Austin Cline at Jesus' General:

Throughout all of this, it's important to remember that it's never just about politics — it's also about culture. America is strong so long as its culture is strong and manly; in order to keep America strong, neocons and religious conservative attack internal movements or forces which seem to threaten to weaken America's manly, violent resolve. Americans who dissent or who "abuse" personal freedom threaten the nation's unity. Those who criticize the war are helping America's enemies by attacking America's willingness to use violence to humiliate others.

This is why religious complaints about America's so-called "moral decline" are inextricably linked with political complaints about liberal treason, and both are fundamental to efforts to keep Bush's failed war policies going. In fact, the relationship isn't even one way: just as dissenting forces at home are derided as unmanly in order to promote war, war itself is pursued as part of an effort to suppress political and cultural dissent at home.

[snip]

So, conservative elites pump up nationalist feeling and embark on foreign wars of aggression, at least in part in order to preserve their political, cultural, and social dominance as well as to combat populist movements at home. In Europe, this helped lead to the demise of the conservative elites; in America, conservative elites seem to have learned their lesson and have been avoiding participation in their wars since the 1960s at least.

The importance of decrying a “cultural and moral decline” cannot be understated: it plays a fundamental role in agenda of the Christian Right as well as neoconservatives generally. Without the belief that both America and Christianity are experiencing a decline — a decline that includes a loss of manliness — neither fundamentalism nor conservative evangelicalism would be nearly as attractive. The Christian Right needs to preach that there are serious moral problems in order to convince people that it has the solutions. Neoconservatives need to preach that there are problems of character and virility in order to convince people that they have the solutions.