"In the absence of international consensus, the Bush administration relied on a coalition of what I call the co-opted, the corrupted and the coerced: those who benefited financially from their involvement, those who benefited politically from their involvement and those few who determined that their relationship with the US was more important than their relationship with anybody else.There is no underlying international legitimacy that sustains us throughout this action"

"The increasing use of contractors makes wars easier to begin and to fight - it just takes money and not the citizenry," says Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who sued private contractors for alleged human rights violations.

"To the extent a population is called upon to go to war, there is a necessary resistance to prevent wars of self-aggrandizement, foolish wars and in the case of the US, hegemonic imperialist wars.

Think about Rome and its increasing need for mercenaries."

Joe Wilson should be viewed in history as a genuine American Hero. He stood up and made plain the facts about the corruption of the Bush administration.