The rulers of the United States seem to make the same mistakes, every time. They empowered the Pakistani government, which created the Taliban that took over Afghanistan, and provided a haven for Osama bin Ladin. That same government's nuclear scientist, Mr. Khan, then proceeded to spread the technology of proliferation around the globe.

George Bush thanked the military dictator of Pakistan for slapping Mr. Khan on the wrist. Meanwhile, Mr. Khan's genies are out of the bottle, and liable to wind up in one of our ports, in a cargo container, some day. It's just a matter of time.

The greedy gluttons of the Republican Party have brought that time much closer, through another unholy alliance, with the government of the United Arab Emirates. It was that government that acted as a go-between with the Taliban for the United States. They did Washington's bidding, and are still doing it in the Middle East. So they are to be rewarded with a contract to handle all those cargo containers coming through U.S. ports. Even Republicans can't stomach that, but their greed is much stronger than their racism. The connections between the United Arab Emirates and the United States are ties of rich men. They have the logic of money, not ideology, or even of race.

And now we see the wholesale spread of fratricide in Iraq, promulgated by the Shi'ite militias that the United States installed as the military and police rulers of the country. What did they think the Shi'ites would do, once armed by the Americans? Apparently, these Americans don't think too well. They always make the same mistakes, and then blame the rest of the world for their stupidity.

I suppose it is, overall, a good thing that the Iraq venture is coming apart at the seams, although one cannot revel in the killings of hundreds in the fiasco that the United States has created. But it is amazing that these Americans, who set such diabolical forces in motion with billions of our tax dollars, always claim to have been victimized. Now, they want to demonize the Arabs of the Emirates, who were their great friends in the disaster that became Afghanistan. Will they finally turn on the Pakistanis – who have the only Islamic nuclear bomb? Have they changed their minds about the Shi'ites, whom they hated when the Ayatollahs took over Iran, but then armed against the Sunnis in Iraq – which has led to the holocaust sweeping that country?

It is clear that madmen are in command of the world's only superpower. What is worse, is that these madmen are rather stupid. They fund the Taliban, and support the fragile military regime in Pakistan, and wind up arming the Shi'ites in Iraq, while at the same time planning to attack the Shi'ite regime in neighboring Iran. What a bunch of idiots. But very dangerous idiots. For Radio BC, I'm Glen Ford.