I want to be reading my book about the translation movement in Baghdad during the 8th-10th Centuries right now, but events going on in Baghdad right now are getting in the way of that. In case you get your news from Fox or the 700 Club (or my personal favorite news filter, Jack Van Impe Presents), you're probably well aware of the fact that the al-Rasheed hotel being used by the Coalition Provisional Authority as a headquarters was fired upon by a barrage of rockets that killed an American colonel, wounded a couple dozen more, and almost clipped Paul Wolfowitz, the Bush Administration's Deputy Secretary of Defense. I'm waiting for the Fox News spin on this one: "Iraqi terrorists have become so desperate that they have resorted to daylight rocket attacks on our glorious leaders!"

Hoo boy. I've been thinking about Alexander the Great again, and how much his story is germane to what's going on today in a way that I doubt will come out in either of the two movies being made by Hollywood about the young king's exploits, especially when the lands he conquered just happen to be the exact same places our War of Terror is focused upon right now. Afghanistan, Babylon, the Persian Empire, Pakistan, Egypt, the Holy Land and the rest of the Middle East - it's a little on the creepy side to watch Bush lead American troops into Alexander's world. Like Alexander, Bush is the son of a former ruler of the world, one more respected by those in the know, if not the public at-large; and from insider accounts, Bush sees himself in either competition with or outright opposition to his father, just as Alexander wrestled both figuratively and literally with his father Phillip, even long after the Macedonian king had died. Like Alexander, Bush surrounds himself with "yes-men" and tolerates no dissent, and even encourages the rumors that he was chosen by God (in Alexander's case he was supposed to be the son of a god) to lead the country to greatness. Like Alexander, whose mother Olympias was feared by many, Bush has a domineering mother with a reputation for being heartless, cold, and calculating. Like Alexander, whom experts believe may have drunk himself to death, Bush is well known to have had on-again, off-again substance abuse problems. And now, like Alexander, whose march to India, China, and who knows where else was halted by weary veterans who'd had enough, Bush's world conquest is starting to unravel at the hands of the rank and file of the armed forces. Every day there are casualties, as well as attempted suicides, soldiers going A.W.O.L. on their leave, and an ever-rising tide of anger from a professional military that gave the Republican party a decisive edge at the polls only to have their loyalty rewarded with endless guerilla wars fought to uphold an unnecessary empire.

Will Dubya now be forced to build an altar to the Twelve Olympian Gods on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates and head on home, or will he press on, oblivious to the lessons of history, or perhaps well aware of them, but thinking that for some reason they will not apply to him? After all, he's the Chosen One, selected not elected, the scourge of terror, sent by God himself. How could he possibly fail?