The Washington Post and the Decline of the Superpower by Mike Whitney

American elites have pinned all their hopes on success in Iraq. As we can see from skyrocketing gas prices at the pump (which were predicted in the Bush administration’s own policy papers) the only tangible asset that can shore up the struggling greenback and, therefore, the American economy, is oil. The US would be signing its own economic death warrant if it leaves Iraq.

But America will leave Iraq; the battle is already being lost and the forces arrayed against the superpower are increasing by the day. The Bush administration has sown too much bad faith and, now, even long-time allies are backing away. Expect to see a slow decline in the next 5 years of American power; a wasting away that parallels the complete dissipation of America’s moral authority.