I hope that I don’t give the impression of having a huge axe to grind as far as Americans are concerned. I don’t. However, I do have an issue with the people they choose (or, of course, sometimes don’t choose) to lead them.

Anyway, be that as it may, I found this entertaining quotation this evening. It’s particular appropriate in the current context.

War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.

Ambrose Bierce, the writer to whom that is attributed, died in 1914. Some things don’t change...

I’m not convinced that Britain is a whole lot better, but personally, I’m glad that I am not American, don’t live in America, and have little contact with America when I read quotes like this:

Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires.

That is, according to US Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia.

Scalia did not discuss what rights he believed are constitutionally protected, but said that in wartime, one can expect “the protections will be ratcheted right down to the constitutional minimum. I won’t let it go beyond the constitutional minimum.”

That excludes those designated as “enemy combatants”, then, because they have no rights at all.

Anyway, don’t forget that wartime could last for a while, according to The National Security Strategy of the United States of America:

The struggle against global terrorism is different from any other war in our history. It will be fought on many fronts against a particularly elusive enemy over an extended period of time.

Better get used to those newly restricted rights, then.