"Every evening, I write notes to the families of young Americans like Doug Zembiec," said Gates, his voice pinched, eyes watering. "For you & for me, they are not names on a press release or numbers updated on a Web site. They are our country's sons & daughters."

So said Robert Gates, bushit’s Secretary of Defence, in his address to the American Marine Corps Association this week, lamenting the pointless deaths of 3,628 members of the American armed forces in Iraq.

Whilst no-one can trivialize the dreadful, needless waste of life clearly evidenced by this horrible statistic, Gates’ sickening display was still a breathtaking example of America’s obscene exceptionalism.

No tears from Gates for the estimated 1,000,000 innocent people butchered on the altar of America’s foul imperialist adventure in Iraq. No late nights huddled writing notes of comfort to the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, lovers or colleagues of those anonymous victims: for every American life lost, a staggering 275 Iraqi lives have been destroyed.

How can the American people ignore the monstrous behaviour of their political leaders in perpetrating this ghastly crime against humanity?

That Bush & Cheney: draft dodgers; common crooks & war criminals, can be permitted to orchestrate this evil with apparent immunity, is an even more ghastly crime.

It is one thing for the American people to self-righteously delude themselves into believing that the loss of their loved ones is somehow justified in the pursuit of their government’s criminal conspiracies, but that they can accept the deaths of so many other innocents without question, surely renders them complicit in the obscene crimes of their leaders.

Not so long ago, the majority of the people in the world looked on America as a beacon of hope: its professed principles & values a source of inspiration & aspiration. Bushit & his corrupt administration have justified their phoney war on terror by arguing that the terrorists would destroy that cherished way of life.

How ironic then that it is bushit & his cronies who have succeeded in transforming America into the most despised nation on earth.

Until the day comes when bushit sheds a tear for the needless death of an Iraqi child, not one tear will I shed for the loss of an American life.