222 SPECIAL PROVIDENCEWara hawkish,ormorehawkish,stancewasthepathofleastresistance
inAmericanpolitics.Politicianswhoadvocatednegotiatedcompromises
withtheSovietenemywerelabeledas"appeasers" andpaida heavy
politicalprice.
During the Cold War, European diplomats spent much oftheir
energyandtimetryingtorestraintheirAmericanally'sdisconcerting
tendencytoconfronttheSovietsateveryopportunity.Churchilltriedto
persuadeEisenhowertonegotiateseriouslywithStalin'ssuccessorsover
Germany;KonradAdenauerandCharlesdeGaulle,noslouchesthem-
selves intheanticommunistdepartment,couldneverunderstandthe
Americanfailureto recognizeMao'sgovernmentinChina.TheEuro-
peansusuallywrungtheirhandsorsnipedduringthelong,sadVietnam
War,deploringAmerica'sunthinkinghawkishness.
TheKoreanandVietnamesewarslostpublicsupportinpartbecause
ofpoliticaldecisionsnottorisktheconsequences(includingthosein
Europeanopinion)ofall-outwar,notnecessarilystoppingshortofthe
useofnuclearweapons.UntillateintheVietnamWar,Americanpublic
opinionwasgenerallymoreexercised overWashington'sfailuretoapply
allavailableforcetoVietnamthanitwasoverthenecessityforthewar
altogether.TheriskiestdecisionGeorgeH.BushtookintheGulfWar
wasn'tthedecisiontosendgroundforcesintoIraq;itwastostopshortof
theoccupationofBaghdadandthecaptureandtrialofSaddamHussein.
Despitethecontinuingpresenceofthe"Vietnamsyndrome,"interven-
tions by PresidentsReaganand BushinGrenadaand Panamawere
widelysupportedbyAmericanpublicopinion.
ItisoftenremarkedthattheAmericanpeoplearemorereligiousthan
theiralliesinWesternEurope.Butitisalsoandequallytruethatthey
aremoremilitary-minded.CurrentlytheAmericanpeoplesupportwith-
outcomplaintthehighestmilitarybudgetsintheworldandthelargest
peacetimemilitarybudgetsinworldhistory.In 1999 theUnitedStates
spentnearlyasmuchondefenseasitsNATOallies,SouthKorea,Japan,
Russia, China, andthe PersianGulfstatesparticipatinginthe Gulf
CooperationCouncil(GCC)combined.' 4 Inresponsetowidespreadpub-
licconcernabouta declineinmilitarypreparedness,bothpartiessup-
portedsubstantialincreasesinmilitaryspendingintheyearstocome.
AndAmericansdon'tmerelypayfortheseforces, theyusethem.
SincetheendoftheViernamWar,regardedbysomeasopeninga new
eraofreluctanceintheexerciseofAmericanpower,theUnitedStates
hasdeployedcombatforces oruseddeadlyforce-inadditiontoIran,
Grenada,Panama,andIraq-overorinCambodia,Lebanon,Libya,Saudi