The answer to the above-referenced question of what George Bush has in common with Roman Emperor Julian displays a striking parallel between the U.S.A. today and Rome's collapse in an ancient yesterday.

In the October 2006 issue of Vanity Fair, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson writes of ancient Rome shortly before its collapse:

"It is a study that properly begins with the first signs of imperial overstretch.   Until the time of the Emperor Julian (A.D. 331-63) Rome could still confidently send its legions as far as the River Tigris.  Yet Julian's invasion of Mesopotamia (present day Iraq, but called Mesopotamia under Persian rule) proved to be his undoing."

British historian Edward Gibbon explains that Julian was victorious at Ctesiphon, 20 miles from Baghdad.  But Baghdad's scorched earth response to Rome's proud military legions sent the Romans back to Rome in defeat.