the story is 30 years old, the SCRIPT is not. big, big difference. and we have Lucas' own comments.
though it's nice to see you the old "liberal" media canard.
and if tickets are the issue, why would Lucas want to be critical of the US? is that a good way to sell tickets? hardly.
also, as anyone who studies literature knows, it doesn't matter what the author wanted to say. it only matters how the text -- be it book, movie, or album -- is read by an audience, and whether or not those readings are valid. if people read parallels to Iraq and Vietnam wtih the rise of the Empire, and they can substantiate these readings with analysis, then that becomes a message of ROTS whether intended or not.
would bono ever say, "no, 'one' is about Guggi's break up, it's not about the Edge's marriage, it's not about AIDS, it's not about a gay son coming out to his father, it's not about Berlin, it's not about the band, it's only about what I SAY it's about when i wrote it in 1991." he would never say that; no artist worth anything woudl ever say that it can only be one thing, and that all other readings are invalid. i've taken fiction writing workshops, and it is AMAZING what can be read from your own writing that you might not have intended, but is still there in the text and it took someone else to point it out to you. artists make decisions, and choices, and they often don't know why they do what they do, and it takes a reader to connect the dots.
just look at the huge amount of homoeroticism and gay imagery on the Boy album. is Bono, or anyone in U2, gay or even bisexual? no. but that doesn't meant that such sexual issues wouldn't find their way into lyrics about a group of very young men starting to grow up.