Years ago, in the late 19th century, US troops launched punitive raids against native tribes in the far western states. We learn of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, and the Lakota Sioux warrior chiefs, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. We learn of the legendary guerillas (or terrorists) Geronimo and Cochise. And we marvel at the courage, the resistance and the doomed efforts by these tribal leaders to preserve their way of life.

Nowadays, remnants of these tribes, Nez Perce, Lakota Sioux and Apache, survive in peace within the larger USA.

But suppose, one day, two native tribes went to war. Suppose Americans awoke one day and were overwhelmed by reports of an attack by the larger, more aggressive tribe on the lesser tribe. Wouldn't someone, anyone try to stop it?

Suppose US news reporters focused on the tremendous explosions, while avoiding any discussion of the reasons for the barbarity. But instead of condemning the attack, the entire US media strangely supported it.

Suppose, long before the attack, both Congress and the White House had designated the smaller tribe as terrorists. Suppose the Pentagon sent modern weapons to the superior tribe, weapons to eradicate the lesser tribe. Suppose, even, that disgruntled US taxpayers were required to fund this bloody tribal war with their tax dollars, despite taxpayer opposition. Suppose the warlike tribe so influenced US political, military and media leaders that no effective opposition could prevail.

Even more strange and unexplainable, the warlike tribe possessed a land area less than one percent of the greater USA. The warlike tribe also represented a tiny population almost wholly dependent on US foreign aid.

The warlike tribe then lobbied US Congressional leaders to vote on a resolution.  Suddenly the US House of Representatives sprung into nervous action (So unlike Congress otherwise) and voted 399 to 6 to wholly support the warlike tribe's invasion of the lesser tribe's tiny reservation. Likewise the US Senate sprung into action (So unlike the Senate) to support the warlike tribe's invasion too.

So the warlike tribe attacked the primitive reservation. For three weeks the tiny enclave under bombardment suffered terribly and heart-rending photos recorded the suffering. None of these photos were permitted to be seen in the US media, since the warlike tribe prevented it. Indeed, the warrior leaders, the true leaders of America, prohibited the US media from eyewitness reports that might sway people to condemn the attack.

The warlike tribe boasted of their control. One tribal chieftain even bragged: "You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House. You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable. What can they (Americans) do to us? We control Congress, we control the media, we control show biz, and we control everything in America. In America you can criticize God, but you can't criticize us."

And the warrior chieftain was right.

If anyone in the USA dared to criticize the warlike tribe, a vast clique of tribal members in the media accused the critics of somehow being "Anti-tribal." No one wanted to be accused of being Anti-tribal. No politician dared being thought of as Anti-tribal, for fear of losing votes, even though tribal members living in the USA comprised such a tiny minority of voters. When thoughtful critics explained that BOTH tribes shared the same common ancestry, these critics-many of them fellow tribesmen---were shouted down, slandered, threatened or fired from their jobs.

We are victims, claimed the chosen warlike tribe. How can you judge us as being warlike, they said, when your own scorched earth policy killed men, women and children for centuries? Before you judge us, study your own history, said the warlike tribe.

After several weeks of destruction, having destroyed office buildings, banks, schools, hospitals, farms, orchards and wells with very little resistance, the warlike tribe withdrew from the smaller reservation. The leaders of the larger USA, nearly one hundred times larger, rather than condemn the victors, actually blamed the vanquished.  

One tribal chief even boasted: "Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on us. We control America, and the Americans know it."

In a way, the warlike tribe chieftain was right. America, presently the biggest warlike nation in the world, was founded on bloodshed and eradication. Once the lesser tribes were eliminated, then suddenly sanctimony and hand-wringing became popular. 

War always unites tribe against tribe, down through the centuries until some peace, or the elimination of competitive tribes, is achieved. After all, one million Iraqi dead tribesmen would certainly agree. The warlike tribe controls America, whether in Gaza or Washington DC.