Eternal ethical principles have always worked their will in subtle or coarse ways since time immemorial, and transgressing them has inevitably brought punishment.

They are the woof and warp of all legends and myths that impart lessons for the moral guidance of humans.

A dramatic illustration of this is being played out in Iraq, already fast becoming a graveyard for shattered reputations.

There are deep-seated reasons why the US fooled itself into taking this disastrous path even though it has been on this route more than once before.

For one, America is a teenager on the world stage compared to the more mature nations of the world, as judged by its track record.

It is all swagger and bombast. No vision. No wisdom won from adversity. And the hidebound ideology of the present occupants of the White house allows little room for pragmatism.

Also, by and large, Americans live in a huge self-contained bubble where self-deception is easy; especially in an environment where giant corporations and the political class share the same bed, facilitating the manipulation of minds through creative massaging of information.

The mass media, including television as well as Hollywood, is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the good guy image of America with rare exceptions.

American psyche

The danger lies in the total belief that America stands for all that is good and wholesome like no other nation in the world. So it is incapable of wrongdoing.

Take for instance its national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner , which contains the stirring words "then conquer we must, for our cause is just". Though penned in 1814, its message resounds potently in the American psyche and takes on a menacing tone for the rest of the world.

Those lyrics seem like a self-issued licence for America to do whatever it wants with impunity.

For Americans, concepts like democracy, liberty and patriotism and idealism are supercharged emotional levers.

The (George W) Bush administration cynically worked those levers in the days after outside reality came crashing through the glass bubble in the form of the Sept 9, 2001 attacks.

The ruling establishment, in the hands of neo-conservative Republicans, seized the moment of national trauma to attempt to fulfill their ambition for world hegemony under the guise of exacting vengeance for the attacks on American soil.

They did so with a force so great as to impress upon the world the invincibility of the US and they invaded Iraq, heartened by the lightning 'victory' in Afghanistan.

Because the launch pad for that asymmetrical war was constructed out of lies, deception and prevarication as exposed now, it has that much more difficult for the US to pull itself out the hole it dug for itself.

The invasion of Iraq, for the purported purpose of removing weapons of mass destruction, liberating the Iraqis from a most cruel dictator and replacing it with a democracy, was in defiance of world opinion and the United Nations.

The primary aim, as those outside America knew from the start, was to gain influence over Middle-Eastern politics and so control the oilfields and thereby the world, while shielding Israel.

Shattered dream

The US is now suffering from what was aptly described sometime ago in a Newsweek article as: "The iron-clad law of unintended consequences."

In the case of Iraq, the law took effect with breathtaking speed. Nearly everything predicted before the invasion is happening. Iraq is sinking ever deeper into anarchy.

The lies and deceptions that launched the war are now killing US soldiers and innocent Iraqis practically every other day.

The situation can be likened to the story of the milkmaid who spilled the milk. The neo-conservatives' dream of world hegemony lies shattered.

The added pain for Washington is that the cost of continued occupation of Iraq is sky-rocketing and America's national debt has reached stratospheric heights -in the trillions.

So it cannot afford the added burden of occupying Iraq, especially when reportedly more than 40 states of the 50 that form America are in the red.

And the UN, whose demise Washington prematurely celebrated, is the same international body to which America is turning for help, since going it alone in Iraq is no longer a viable option.

We've been given ringside seats, thanks to satellite TV, to observe the eternal principles working as relentlessly as ever. And it's proving to be scary, with signs of international law and order breaking down.

The US keeps repeating that mantra that the world has been made a safer place since the overthrow of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as power appears to seep away from the US in a near continuous drip. However, the world is sliding to a barbaric state.

It is inevitable that out of this chaos, new alliances will be forged to strike an uneasy and wary balance between the North and South, or in other combinations.

There is also talk of the remote possibility of the US breaking apart because of the crushing national debt. Who knows, it just might turn out to be true.

Unless, by some miracle, the average American puts aside his aversion to politics and politicians and wrestles back the spirit of democracy that has been stolen from him by the political-industrial complex.