The US like any other empire while in the process of spending itself into oblivion is continuing to drum up boogymen (Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran) to keep the patrotic inspired, the warrior class busy and the rest of the populace occupied.
The best example of this process of societal destruction through debt is that of Argentina and their invasion of the Falkland Islands. Here a desperate military dictator attacked some islands off the coast which provoked a violent response from the UK who was in a similar position although not as desperate. The results were tragic, except for the Thatcher government who was on the “winning” side thus scoring toughness points, both countries spent gazillions on the wars, lost more people than inhabit the islands and set the stages for the destruction of their governments. The only difference is that the UK is taking a bit longer to complete the process.
It’s not like you even need state sponsored terrorism to make this point. There had been enough examples of direct US state terrorism. USAF is the biggest terrorist organisation there is.