In the spring of 1812, war came once again to American shores. It had been over 25 years since the constitution had been ratified, when the distinct entity known as the United States of America came into existence. And the Brits were still not very happy. They were now at war with France and had taken to stopping American ships and forcing their sailors into the British navy. After exhausting various trade and other diplomatic solutions, war was finally declared in 1812. The 1812 war actually began with an invasion of Canada by the US in an attempt to force the British from North America. While both sides claimed victory and neither gained territory, the war is notable as the last time a foreign power's army set foot on American soil. America has enjoyed an unassailable military status since.

It was the immense sense of power and invulnerability that made the terrorist attack of 9/11 take on a magnitude far out of proportion to anything that had ever happened in any American's lifetime. Yet since 1812, war and invasion has been the norm for most of the rest of the world, including so-called modern industrialized countries. Europe was the site of the Napoleonic wars, as well as both world wars, not to mention endless smaller skirmishes as the various modern states consolidated their border, particularly the transformation of Prussia to Germany. The suffering and deaths of millions of civilians and soldiers were incurred. All the while, the USA grew more and more powerful (with the glaring exception of five years of civil war in which we managed to slaughter as many of each other as the American victims of all other wars combined).

As for the rest of planet since 1812, war has even been more omnipresent. Major battles as a result of foreign invasion or occupation were quite common throughout Eastern Asia, Africa, South America and the middle east. The loss of life in these conflicts cannot even be tabulated. In a number of cases, genocide was involved. This includes Jews, Armenians, Rwandans, Bosnians, numbering from hundreds of thousands to millions in short periods of time. American soldiers bravely went to war several times during this period in order to protect our interests or our shores or our allies. But our soil remained inviolable and our sense of protected status grew. Never before had a country that had engaged in so much military activity over such a long period of time avoided an attack on the homeland.

So when the cold war finally ended, most Americans assumed it was a done deal. The era of peace and prosperity had finally arrived. The economy boomed during the 90's and no true threats to American seemed to loom in the minds of Americans. Then 9/11 changed everything. But should it be such a surprise that American intervention around the world has created a lot of enemies over the past century. Now don't get me wrong, I blame the suffering of these peoples largely on their own governments, not ours. And certainly no such attack on any country such as 9/11 could ever be justified. No, the point is that we put our heads in the sands when it was clear to many that such an attack was inevitable. We allowed our national sense of superiority and invincibility to cloud us to the realities around us. And the guilt lies with both democrats and republicans who have variously been complicit in this ostrich like behavior over the past 15 years. We can only hope that our current course of action will not be too little too late.

Todd Luger, Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist, has 14 years of clinical experience in Chinese Medicine, focused on chronic pain and illness, has been a professor of Herbology and Clinical Medicine at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine since 2000, and is director of the Chinese Herb Academy. You can read more of his articles on PulseMed.org, at the Chinese Herb Academy, or on his Health Weblog.