In the beginning of the 1990s there was the war in the Persian Gulf. The needs of the military-industrial complex enter into the equation. New weapons systems must be tested and officers and enlisted men trained in combat. The type of massive military apparatus which exists in the US cannot be maintained indefinitely without fighting a war somewhere. Perhaps most decisive in US calculations is the fear of a new economic slump and the social instability that rising unemployment and falling incomes will produce at home.
War provides a useful diversion.
The army can absorb some of the jobless as cannon fodder and the spectacle of carnage abroad serves to distract the population from deprivation at home. It is not a coincidence that the present buildup toward war in the Gulf has developed in tandem with the growing crisis of capitalism in the key economic centers of Asia. Saddam Hussein's regime Saddam Hussein heads a ruthless dictatorship which has crushed the aspirations of the Iraqi people. But, it must be pointed out, he was supported in this endeavor by Washington. Moreover, his regime is hardly unique.