Is It in Man's Nature to Wage War?

In May, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. The move left political analysts combing his speech for clues as to whether Washington's foreign policy was changing. Anthropologists, on the other hand, looked for something different. In commemorating one of the most devastating acts of war the world has ever seen, Obama could not help but examine his basic beliefs about war itself. In his speech he explained that war grows "out of the same base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes." He also argued, however, that mankind can choose to make peace its destiny because “we’re not bound by genetic code to repeat the mistakes of the past." But is he right?...