The apostle of imperial dominance, Bush slew the “last empire.” The towering figure of our time, he is a piteously small man. The self-anointed emissary of a “higher father,” he is servant to no power but himself. The captain of the sinking ship has laid his command upon his fellow Americans: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for me.” No sacrifice of life shall be too great, no damage to civil liberties too high, no expenses too vast for a vainglorious man deluded by fantastic dreams of redemption by force.

But who besides the bereaved will mourn? Who besides the orphan will whimper? Who besides the humiliated will stare back? Who besides the thugs and the craven will lead? Patriotism is a lovely thing. In its name, some go dying by the side of an Iraqi road in twitching agony; others go shopping in oversized automobiles festooned with yellow ribbons. We all play our part—and nobody else's.

Yeats bemoaned an era when the best lacked all conviction, while the worst were full of passionate intensity. Today, Kristol blusters and hectors, Cheney scolds and forebodes, Bush struts and smirks. Meanwhile, the giant, timid chorus listens politely to the deafening silence of the outraged—and the mad march of war goes on.

===========

     [1]   Cheney Dismisses Critic With Obscenity, by Helen Dewar and Dana Milbank, Washington Post, June 25, 2004.

             [2]   America's Empire Is an Empire Lite, by Michael Ignatieff, The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2003.

             [3]   Press Conference by the President, The White House, Oct. 25, 2006.

             [4]   U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time, by Peter Baker, The Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2006.

             [5]   War in Iraq, CNN, 2006.

             [6]   The Human Cost of the War in Iraq, by G. Burnham, S. Doocy, E. Dzeng, R. Lafta, L. Roberts, Lancet, 2006.

             [7]   Global Opinion: The Spread of Anti-Americanism, Pew Global Attitudes Project, Jan. 24, 2005.

             [8]   Cancer Research Funding, National Cancer Institute, May 19, 2006.

             [9]   Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006, Reporters Without Borders, 2006.

           [10]   The Muslim Stereotype, by Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times (firewalled original), Dec. 10, 2006.

           [11]   Insurgency Out, Anarchy In, by Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times (firewalled original), June 2, 2006.

           [12]   The Lingo Of Vietnam, by Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, Nov. 21, 2006.

           [13]   Powell Says U.S. Losing in Iraq, Calls for Drawdown by Mid-2007, by Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post, Dec. 18, 2006.

           [14]   Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker, by Dafna Linzer and Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2006.

           [15]   The Iraq Study Group Report, by James A. Baker, III and Lee H. Hamilton, Co-Chairs, United States Institute of Peace, 2006.

           [16]   Closer to the Abyss, by Christopher Dickey, Newsweek, Dec. 6, 2006.

           [17]   Coalition divided over battle for hearts and minds, by Richard Norton-Taylor and Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, Apr. 1, 2003.

           [18]   The Talk of the Town, by Susan Sontag, The New Yorker, Sept. 24, 2001.

           [19]   The Most Cowardly War in History, by Arundhati Roy, Global Research, June 28, 2005.

           [20]   Politically Incorrect, Wikipedia.

           [21]   Trigger-happy US troops ‘will keep us in Iraq for years’, by Sean Rayment, Telegraph, May 15, 2005.

           [22]   Madeleine's War, by Walter Isaacson, Time, May 9, 1999.

           [23]   Bush: ‘We Don't Torture’, CBS News, Sept. 6, 2006.

           [24]   He's The Worst Ever, by Eric Foner, The Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2006.

           [25]   United States Department of Defense, by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Feb. 19, 2003.

           [26]   Upbeat Tone Ended With War, by Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, March 29, 2003.

           [27]   Official Reveals Budget for U.S. Intelligence, by Scott Shane, The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2006.

           [28]   United States Department of Defense, by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003.

           [29]   Turkey at the Crossroads, by Richard Perle, Sept. 22, 2003.

           [30]   Baghdad Delenda Est, Part Two, by Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online, April 23, 2002.

           [31]   An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, by David Frum and Richard Perle, Random House (excerpt), Dec. 2003.

           [32]   “An End to Evil” by David Frum and Richard Perle, by Gary Kamiya, Salon, Jan. 30, 2004.

           [33]   Their War, Too, by Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, Sept. 1, 2005.

           [34]   Closing In, by Lawrence Kaplan and Bill Kristol, National Review Online, Feb. 24, 2003.

           [35]   Imperialism is the Answer, by Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 14, 2001.

           [36]   A British View of the US Post-September 11, by Andrew Sullivan, The London Times, Oct. 15, 2001.

           [37]   ‘The Final Word Is Hooray!’, FAIR, March 15, 2006.

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