Celtic Soul - Well, the human race is a community, and war is an act of violence within that community. Communities normally form cooperative structures based on some sort of consensus, deciding how to regulate and prevent violence. (The UN was formed with that in mind.) A town appoints certain people (police & courts & jails) to deal with violence, and gives the cops guns so that they can, if necessary, kill. The town does not allow private individuals to kill other such individuals upon their own good judgement, not even when they're the richest guy in the town. It arrests them if they do.

So, to rephrase your statement above, I believe you are saying:

"Since when did any individual in my community need the consent of the town council, the courts, and the police to decide when and how to beat up and kill somebody else in this town? That sounds a lot like handing over personal sovereignty to me. And if my town ever *does* decide to unite under some collective council or other (actually, it already did!), I hope to God it is not under the (substitute name of your town council here)..."

The USA is a member of a world community. If it chooses to act in defiance of the civil laws of that community (which it has done numerous times) and launch a preemptive war on another member...then it is committing a criminal act. You are suggesting that the UN is itself corrupt, so that's a mitigating factor. I wouldn't doubt that the UN is somewhat corrupt. Does this justify simply turning the whole world over to rule by the most powerful and ruthless country, corporate USA, regardless of what anyone else thinks? I believe this attitude stems from the fact that Americans think of the USA as the center of the World, and the rest of the World as merely an opportunity, a nuisance, or an enemy.

And what do we call that? Megalomania and rule by terror, that's what. An outlaw nation. The thing the USA can't stand about Saddam is that he is so much like them under the skin. He's their little baby brother and partner in crime. In attacking him they attempt to exorcise their own inner demon.

- LH