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An American Caesarby
Paul Craig Roberts
Intentionally or stupidly, President Bush and his neocon overlords are on track for igniting general conflagration in the Middle East. In placing America’s stamp of approval on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s annexation of the West Bank, Bush jettisoned a half century of American diplomacy and broadcast to Muslims everywhere that U.S. armed forces are Israel’s Middle Eastern legions. In giving his approval for the annexation, Bush acted as a dictator, consulting neither Congress nor the State Department nor our allies nor the UN. There was no debate. U.S. foreign policy now rests on power alone, exercised by the President alone. Bush touted his doctrine of power when he declared the annexation justified because "realities on the ground and in the region have changed greatly." What are these new realities? Does Bush believe that by invading Iraq the US has intimidated Muslims into accepting Israel’s geographical expansion for a greater homeland? All Bush has achieved is to spread hatred and disdain of America. On the heels of his betrayal of Palestinians, Bush condoned the assassination of Hamas leader al-Rantisi by Israeli terrorists. Such provocative actions are fuel thrown on the flames of the uprisings in Iraq against the American occupation. US Marines and National Guardsmen will pay with their lives for Bush’s follies. The American occupation, which has turned "liberated" Iraq against us, is now poised with heavy armor on the outskirts of the holy city, Najaf. Iraqi Shi’ite leaders have announced that an American attack on Najaf means a general Shi’ite uprising. But chest-thumping US commanders, repeating Bush’s boast, roar "bring them on." US forces in Iraq are insufficient to deal with a general uprising. There are no available troops with which to reinforce the troops that Bush has placed in a quagmire. On top of Bush’s betrayal of the Palestinians and endorsement of Israeli terrorism, an Iraqi general uprising would likely cause a Middle Eastern explosion in which our secular puppets in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia would be overthrown. Bush plays with matches while anger and frustration drive Muslims to an explosive state. Is it Bush’s intention to start a general war, again wrap himself in the flag, and conscript our sons? Our job is to bring freedom to the world, Bush says, on the point of bayonets.
You, the public, wake up! Bush is leading us into a wider war that will consume our sons, our incomes, our freedom and our honor.
Dr. Roberts [send him mail] is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. Copyright © 2004 Creators Syndicate
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Neoconservatives
declare that such a grand scheme is worth tens of thousands of American
casualties and countless more wounded and maimed. 
