The downside to these exaggerated successes is that the White House and the US security agencies believe more of their own propaganda than is good for them.

Obama was expected to correct the flagrant crimes of the Bush administration; instead, by his own violent and questionable acts, he is widening the gulf between the US and the Muslim world.

Each of these election year government leaks depicts Obama as a tough, hands-on, unflinching commander-in-chief: ruthlessly slaying America's enemies and keeping us all safe.

The media consistently debates the merits of wars on the basis of whether or not they can be 'won'. Considerations of human rights and international law are secondary.

"We're killin' 'em! We're killin' 'em all!" Bush exulted, during his last months in office. And now another man sits in the White House, surveying his own kill lists.

In the history of human rights, with examples too numerous to mention, the worst atrocities are always committed by somebody else, never us" – whoever "us" is.

The last time a president indulged in an illegal bombing campaign in the sovereign territory of allies, it nearly got included in the articles of Richard Nixon's impeachment.

US ambassadors weren't dismissed from Paris or Rome when American jets attacked a wedding party in Kandahar Province, killing up to 90 people and wounding 28.

An American president signing off -- week after week after week after week -- on the extrajudicial murder of people all over the world is presented as completely uncontroversial.

Sweden and the US have already begun talks on Assange's "temporary surrender" to the US -- where he faces concocted charges and the prospect of unlimited solitary confinement.

No wrestling with conscience for this Nobel Peace laureate: he's so very "comfortable" with ordering people killed, say his aides who believe this to be a compliment.

America's drone war is a predatory war on the Muslim world, which is feeding hatred of the US, fuelling terror, not fighting it, and will do nothing for US security.

Well, that will teach the Pakistanis to mess around with a brave doctor who is prepared to help the American institution that tortures and murders its enemies.

The US government supports democracy and human rights protests everywhere, except in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Palestine -- and America.

"Honor the dead, heal the wounded, stop the wars", is the message of a mourning mother to President Barack Obama and the Nato generals.

The American servicewomen and men tossing their medals back at Nato showed a type of courage that the Nato leaders should have been forced to watch.