Spurred on by the oil barons, the corporate politicians in Washington have set out to play the game of empire alone. One of their first targets is the oil-rich Republic of Iraq. As a brotherhood of investors - including corporations with close ties to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and James Baker - attempt to turn war-ravaged Iraq into a cash cow, America`s unilateral leadership is becoming increasingly problematic. The adventure has provoked a revival of mass dissent in Europe and the Americas and a ferocious resistance inside Iraq. This test-case war to establish total US hegemony over a region of strategic importance to the United States is descending into chaos and violence.