Amerika: The Triumph of the American Spirit

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In the history of human folly, arrogant fantasies of military supremacy and pathetic illusions of national safety have played a crucial role. The Great Wall of China, the Spanish Armada, the Maginot Line—all were thought to be impregnable. All fell. And with them fell not only governments, but ideals, not only nations, but those unique aspects of the human spirit that were embodied in each conquered civilization.

Through most of the 1980s, the United States of America had regarded itself—and was regarded by the rest of the world—as the mightiest and therefore most secure nation the world had ever seen; it seemed to dawn on no one that those two notions did not necessarily go hand in hand. The American defense system represented the perfect combination of American skill and American will, of vast wealth and limitless ingenuity applied to the problems of survival for this hardiest of peoples. In fact, the U.S. military had evolved the most sophisticated weaponry and communications networks ever known to man.

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