There have been 96 executions so far for 2012, with another 196 people on death row. Many Iraqis, including former detainees, believe the number is much higher than the government reports.

There is one significant difference between Bush's and Obama's policies: whereas Bush preferred to detain people without due process or judicial review, Obama simply kills them.

Israel has been putting relentless pressure on Washington, apparently in the hope of manoeuvring it into supporting or joining an attack on Tehran.

On average, one US soldier dies everyday. Not an enormous sum, unless it is your mother, father, son or daughter that has perished. Few Americans notice. Afghan loses are not reported.

To avert this looming but avoidable catastrophe is simple, says the United Nations: lift the Israeli blockade and allow the people of Gaza to be self-sufficient.

The Democratic leadership was so desperate to push through the amendment giving Israel the whole of Jerusalem that the chair was willing to lie in front of a nationally televised audience.

The US has aircraft carriers, gunboats, minesweepers, and robot subs stationed in Bahrain and sold billions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

Aside from this corpse and the others the president has piled up – there is little else for ordinary Americans to celebrate when it comes to the search for nationalistic achievement.

The Royal Family has traditionally dressed up in uniforms to pretend that we're all in this together. That's why Prince Harry's return is being so widely publicised.

Obama can joke about his use of assassinations to kill even US citizens, but we are not allowed to see any evidence to justify these extra-judicial killings.