Iraq Crisis Shows U.S.'s Nonpareil Power, Yet Exposes Weakness in Economic Role
WASHINGTON -- There hasn't been much doubt in recent days about what nation is the most powerful. The Iraq crisis shows that the U.S. is the only true superpower.</br></br>All the talk about Japan or Germany being the new No. 1 has faded quickly -- at least for now. So has the idea that military power became irrelevant with the collapse of communism. These thoughts seem naive at a time when a military force has risen in the Persian Gulf that threatens the wealth on which Japanese and German clout has been built.</br></br>Only the U.S. has the means to move mass military force around the globe in days and to rally numerous other nations to the cause. And, for all its economic woes, the U.S. can back up that military might with an economy far larger than any rival's.</br></br>"This crisis in the Gulf is the answer to the argument that we've reached the end of history, that peace has broken out, that military power doesn't matter and the only coin of influence in the world is economic power," Harold Brown, a former defense secretary, said. These popular claims are being shown up as exaggerations.</br></br>But no matter how good the crisis has made Americans feel so far, with President Bush rallying support by making frank allusions to stopping a new Hitler, it obscures the shift in the world power game. Military might still counts, but there is a new emphasis on economic strength, and the U.S. isn't well prepared to retain that aspect of global leadership.