Just as his father did, George W. Bush is offering generous packages of aid and arms to nations that join his drive for war against Iraq. There is so much bargaining going on that arms analyst Ira Shorr has called the Administration’s ad hoc alliance for war the “coalition of the wanting.” According to former Secretary of State James Baker, winning support for the first Gulf War involved “cajoling, extracting, threatening and occasionally buying votes.” This time there is far more buying and threatening than cajoling going on, and recruiting allies has been far more costly.

The original USA Patriot Act allowed the government to do many bad things. It resulted in the government having the power to spy on Americans without so much as probable cause or a search warrant. It led a court - a secret court that issues rulings that cannot be appealed by anyone except the government - to rule that the Fourth Amendment isn?t really all that important after all. John Ashcroft wasn?t done. He was just getting warmed up.