all points agreed.
i can't say for sure because i have no experience but i'm guessing war has traumatized the young lad. the wars of today are not the same wars our fathers fought, there are no rules anymore. i can't imagine the hell he lived through. i guess when you have limited means, you fight the fight that gives you the best chance of winning.
i'm not real big on the US hegemony though, i have never believed we should be the worlds policeman. and it's not so much that we have been the world's policeman, more that we have been working on behalf of the petrodollar. that however is a different argument altogether.