One thing I should clarify in my discussion way back there of the American President's status as virtual demigod...a fairly unique situation these days outside of totalitarian states...is:

America is actually a schizophrenic culture, divided eternally between Republicans and Democrats ((or, if you prefer, liberals (city slicker, bleeding heart, birkenstock-wearing, quiche-eaters) and conservatives (real, pledge-allegiance-to-the-flag, rural American patriots))...

So...

While more or less half of the American public at any given time regards the president as a demigod, the sum of all their hopes and dreams for prosperity and security...

The other half (more or less) regards him as a fool, a criminal, or the Antichrist.

This makes for a pretty unstable situation. The only way of really calming it down is to come up with a foreign Antichrist who appears far more evil than any President ever could (even if he does have illicit sex in the oval office or mispronounces the word "nuclear" at public functions).

If a war can be launched against the foreign Antichrist that pretty well does the trick, and the nation is once again unified, at least until war's end or the next election. It's good for the economy too. It is important to pick a foreign Antichrist who cannot possibly defeat or seriously damage the US forces, which isn't too difficult these days, as long as one doesn't take on really big opponents such as Russia or China. Thus the war on a small country is clearly the best option. Finding the right small country is tricky.

But...with due diligence one can find a small country willing to shoulder the burden of being "bad guy" for a limited period of time, after which they can be rescued from their sins and invested in by multinational energy corporations.

All this would be unnecessary, were the USA not a house permanently divided against itself, but we have to deal with things as they are and grin and bear it.

I think Saddam should be paid a large bonus for fulfilling his chosen role with such absolute style and panache. He is truly the Mother of all Bad Guys. :-)

- LH