"Nobody likes war," your president said, with his trademark smirk.

"The only thing I can do," he said, "is assure the loved ones of those in uniform, that if we have to go to war, if war is upon us because Saddam Hussein has made that choice, we will have the best equipment available for our troops, the best plan available for victory, and we will respect innocent life in Iraq."

Never mind that all of that is a bald-faced lie. If indeed you are related to one of the fine young people who have volunteered to protect our country from threats both foreign and domestic, George W. Bush's syrupy manner in his speech the other night should infuriate you. Not only is this maniac about to kill your loved ones in the service, he doesn't even care enough to show any emotion about it. Nobody likes war. Tell me, what in God's name does this silver-spoon aristocrat, who has never had to so much as pop his own pimples, know about war?

A lot of people hated Bill Clinton, because he "dodged the draft" in Viet Nam. As it turns out, Viet Nam was an undeclared war in which a lot of good American kids got killed, wounded and psychologically ruined, but it was great for the economy - ask any defense contractor or oil magnate. So Clinton was right to decline in the participation of a bloodbath for the sake of making a few men rich. Even so, being aware of the perception that his destiny was not one of a combat infantryman, Clinton saw no reason to attack Iraq, and Iraq today is no different, no more of a threat than it was just a few years ago. All the change in the world has taken place here.

You want Osama bin Laden? So do I. Hunt him down like a rabid dog and put a bullet in his head. See if you get one peep out of me about it. In fact, I'll probably throw a dinner-party over that. You want to "democratize the Middle East" and rid the world of tinhorn dictators? Why don't we see any politicians who would rather re-democratize America, and kick our own tinhorn dictators out of office?

It's pretty easy to point out just how wrong Bush is. And all but those who suffer from self-inflicted blindness can see that. At the same time the man is telling the world he will ignore their will and go it alone, snapping our economic spine and disintegrating foreign relations in every direction all at once, he is also trying to figure out a way to tell you that we're just going to have to "accept" a nuclear North Korea.

Surreal threats (in other words, enemies that are fairly easy to defeat) will be addressed, with a Nero-like psychosis being the engine that drives the war machine. But real threats (those enemies that could do serious damage around the world) will be dealt with diplomatically... as if this Administration understands the first thing about diplomacy. These are now the two faces of America, giving those who already mistrust us double the justification for doing so. Those who once trusted us now see us as insane. It makes us look bad. We, the American people do not elect presidents to make us look bad, to place even more targets on our backs than had already existed. But then, the American people didn't elect this fool.

Even after presenting solid evidence that arrives at the sum of zero, Bush tells us all that "we don't need permission" to kill Saddam Hussein and his people, to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, and to take command of their oil. That's consistent with his reigning pathology. He also didn't think he needed permission to burn the Constitution in his ashtray. Your president has even created an environment in which an American has been arrested in a shopping mall for wearing a tee-shirt that advocates peace - a tee-shirt, purchased at that very same mall.

Presidents come and presidents go. But many fear this little prick will never go. Many feel that Bush will keep pressing us deeper into conflicts around the world, getting as many young Americans killed as is necessary to maintain a global anti-American fervor, setting us all up for another major terrorist attack. He will then use that as a basis for declaring martial law, nullifying future elections and keeping himself in a position of power that he has never deserved. If he hadn't shown himself already to be an inflexible freak about wielding power, people wouldn't have that fear.

He'll do and say anything to black out that part of his lust for power, though, even if it means waxing evangelical on the taxpayer's dime: "There are thousands of people praying for me," he said (as opposed to hundreds of millions praying against), "that I'll never see and be able to thank." Similarly, he will never have to see and thank the soldiers he will send off to their deaths for no good reason. He will comfort their families only if it suits him politically to do so, and his words then will ring as hollow as they do now:

Nobody likes war. Well, nobody except those that profit from it. I used to think that Bush had signed a contract with the devil. Now, like the Pope, I have come to see that he may in fact be the devil's representative on Earth. And he'll take us all to Hell with him before too much longer.