A look back to days of the American Revolution

We are still at war in/with 2 countries, though the Obama administration says that the war in Iraq is over. Our stated goal is to change/capture the “hearts and minds “ of the peoples there. If that is not war, I do not what is.
To put things in perspective about the elitist ruling class, the following quote from Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” (page 79, paper back edition) is quite illuminative:“ Ruling elites seem to have learned through the generations – consciously or not – that war makes them more secure against internal trouble.”