If the US voters were given a chance to recast their vote, would some of them vote differently, calling for Senator John Kerry instead of re-electing the jingoistic, bellicose George W Bush?

Since none of us is granted the divine power to turn back time, those Americans who regret having given Bush a second chance can only live with a sense of remorse that may never go away. Why?

For when the US went to polls in November last year, little did the Americans realise what a surprise Bush was prepared to give them. In March this year, the Pentagon unveiled the carefully crafted, best kept National Defense Strategy of the United States of America and, lo and behold, preemptive strike is now officially a state policy, as clearly indicated in the document.

As rightly pointed out by Jim Lobe , the Bush administration appears to be willing to bypass international bodies, such as the United Nations Security Council, and regional military structures, such as Nato, in order to secure US interests around the globe. Quite clearly, the president is still haunted by the debacle of consensus within Nato, when France and Germany decided against the war on Iraq in 2003.