‘I think it was Vico who noted that busy republics tend to turn themselves into empires.

Certainly, the French intellectual godfather to the American republic, Montesquieu, warned that republics that took the empire route would cease to be republics altogether while Vico, in his cyclic view of human societies, saw imperial republics evolving into dictatorships, chaos, barbarism.

In the last five years American behaviour in the Middle East has been barbarous and will not soon be forgiven.

Meanwhile, the gas-oil junta has hijacked the old American republic through the artful use of great quantities of corporate and church cash in order to falsify the electoral tallies of easily hacked electronic voting machinery; means now exist to nullify or alter any election returns as happened in Florida 2000; in Ohio 2004.

There is a good deal of grim comedy in the words if not the current deeds of the little president.

Although he and his co-conspirators relish the use of the big lie (eg: turning the dull but genuine war hero John Kerry into a cowardly fraud while ignoring the slackerdom of Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld who proudly fought in none of our many wars).

Now in an attempt to avoid blame for the Iraq war and further confuse the world about why Iran and Syria must be destroyed Old Rumsfeld and Old Cheney are trotting out dim garbled images of Hitler and appeasement as they pretend that the anti-war American majority favours Islamic fascism. They pretend terrorism is a demonic person. And if we don't stop him in Tehran we'll have to stop him here.

This is ludicrous; unfortunately the junta is as ignorant of history and geography as they believe the public to be. Meanwhile, the little president worries about his "legacy" in the history books. But should he get World War Three going there might not be any more history books, a relief to a non-reader like himself, though, lately, he tells us that he is reading Camus and "three Shakespeares". No doubt tragedies. As we know, he lies with zest yet he was actually revealed reading "The Pet Goat" on television and the Greek word for goat is the same as the word for tragedy. If this is code, I am beginning to suspect him of irony, a fatal flaw in Freedom's home. After all, on his first trip to New Orleans, he promised to restore the drowned city. But, as usual, nothing was done. Then this August 29 he was back in town to reassure high school students: "I've come back to New Orleans to tell you the words that I spoke on Jackson Square are just as true today as they were then." And so, of course, they were!

Meanwhile, one hopes that some noble humanitarian will finally shut the doors of the temple of Janus which have not been shut since December of 1941 when we went from one war to another and another without a pause - or thought.’

America's Warrior Nation - The legacy of 9/11

From Al Jazeera

US troops killed by Iraq suicide bomber

Friday 15 September 2006, 12:34 Makka Time, 9:34 GMT

Two American soldiers have been killed and 25 wounded in one of the biggest attacks on the US-led multinational force in Iraq.

A suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into a US military convoy west of Baghdad on Thursday, the military said.

The explosion scattered debris into an area where troops were concentrated.

The wounded were taken to a military hospital by helicopter - four of them are believed to be in a serious condition.

Earlier on Thursday, the military had announced the death of three other soldiers in other attacks.

At least 25 US servicemen have died in Iraq since the start of the month.

read more at Al Jazeera

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Gus; meanwhile since 9/11 — when nearly 3000 American died needlessly, more than 2,600 US soldiers have been killed and 20,000 have been wounded In Iraq alone — in the last five years, more that 120,000 murders have been committed IN THE US.

As well, many more people have died from smoking related diseases, but the big smokes' empires only have had to pay pittance in fines and class action can not be launched against them anymore... All this due to the New US ambassador to our land of opportunity who had a great deal in brokering this ugly ugly deal. It costs this nation heaps on treating sick people from smoking in public hospitals... In the US, only the sick may care... May this puppet of GW Bush be sorry, but I don't hold my breath...