Economic Objective

Imperial Hubris Series

Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer, 2004, Excerpts

The September 11 attacks were not apocalyptic onslaughts on Western civilization. They were country-specific attacks meant to inflict substantial, visible, and quantifiable human and economic destruction on America. Just under the noise, death, and rhetoric yielded by the foregoing episodes of war lies a largely ignored factor that may constitute al Qaeda’s main war effort – the steady bleeding of the U.S. economy.

The immediate impact is massive expenditures – at all levels of American government – that will add permanently to the size and cost of government. In addition to the cost of hiring thousands of federal employees for homeland security purposes; acquiring buildings, equipment, and training to make them effective; and requiring proportionate upgrading at state, municipal, and local levels; there lie what must be substantial amounts of unpredictable expenditures for overtime wages – in government and business alike – whenever Washington raises the threat level, or when high levels of security are provided at public places or functions heretofore not seen as serious security risks.