When I celebrated my bar mitzvah there was no cake. Today there is no such thing as a bar mitzvah in the United States without a special cake. It can be even more complicated and expensive than a wedding cake because bar-mitzvah cakes are often based on a particular theme.

I am still profoundly troubled by the war in Nicaragua. The United States launched a covert war against another nation in violation of international law a war that was wrong and immoral.

Bush's war in Iraq has done untold damage to the United States. It has impaired our military power and undermined the morale of our armed forces. Our troops were trained to project overwhelming power. They were not trained for occupation duties.

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to quote 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

Moreover war has become a thing potentially so terrible and destructive that it should have been the common aim of statesmen to put an end to it forever.

In some states militant nationalism has gone to the lengths of dictatorship the cult of the absolute or totalitarian state and the glorification of war.

In short it may be said that on paper the obligations to settle international disputes peacefully are now so comprehensive and far-reaching that it is almost impossible for a state to resort to war without violating one or more solemn treaty obligations.

In our modern world of interdependent nations hardly any state can wage war successfully without raising loans and buying war materials of every kind in the markets of other nations.

During the Cold War we were interested because we were scared that Russia and the United States were going to go to war. We were scared that Russia was going to take over the world. Every country became a battleground.

Until democracy in effective enthusiastic action fills the vacuum created by the power of modern inventions we may expect the fascists to increase in power after the war both in the United States and in the world.