Flaws in the American way of life

What the New Statesman and several of its commentators such as John Pilger and Ziauddin Sardar have said for the past two years is now being accepted across the political spectrum. The Independent's ex-editor Andreas Whittam Smith compares George W Bush and Tony Blair to Stalin - a comparison at which even the most dedicated anti-Americans would have baulked until now. In the London Evening Standard, the political commentator Peter Oborne calls the US "a rogue state". The editor of Newsweek International, Fareed Zakaria, acknowledges that, to much of the world, the US is "an international outlaw". The proposition that America had the slightest interest in the welfare of the Iraqi people, and that a humanitarian mission could piggyback on its invasion, now looks wholly absurd. Attacked by Arabs on 9/11, it wanted to take the battle to Arab territory (that they were different Arabs was neither here nor there); alarmed by China's growing demand for oil, it wanted to strengthen its position in the oil-rich Middle East; dedicated to aggressive capitalism, it wanted to impose its ideology on the only region still largely resisting it.

As always, US leaders try to present America's crimes as an aberration. What happened at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, we are told, does not represent "American values". Yet as Stephen Grey shows in our cover story, the only exceptional thing is that Americans did the torturing themselves. More often, over the past two years, the US has used secret planes to move prisoners to allied regimes that have more skill and experience in torture. Again, the deaths of hundreds in Fallujah must be another aberration - or perhaps they didn't die at all or perhaps they were all armed terrorists.

Why we expect so much of America is a puzzle. During the Korean war, it bombed the north so intensively that it ran out of targets. In the 1960s and 1970s, it killed an estimated three million people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. At the end of the first Gulf war, it killed retreating Iraqi conscripts in their tens of thousands. In Chile and Nicaragua, it helped armed opponents of democratically elected governments. It has tried to squeeze the life out of Cuba for decades and took new measures to stop Cuban Americans sending cash to their families back home only the other day. It opposes a host of international treaties - on banning nuclear tests and controlling carbon-dioxide emissions, for example - and now abjures the Geneva Conventions as well.


more..http://www.newstatesman.com/nsleader.htm

People naturally believe they are good...even criminals seldomely think they are the bad guys. So, naturally, an American who sees herself as "good" will take exception to the idea that America is bad becuase she identifies strongly with "America" being part of her identity.

It is a trick played on us by the ruling class...teach us to be patriotic, teach us to be proud that we are Americans, and in that way we naturally stick up for actions that are not necessarily in our best interests. An attack on the actions of the ruling class can be called an attack on America itself and should be taken personally by all Americans.

We probably aren't helping our cause by framing issues in terms of "is America good or bad." The best thing we can do is abstract the corrupt system and people who do harm from the idea of "America."

The "America good or bad" question is allowing the Ruling Class to frame the discussion. Every idea should be judged on its own merits.

Zur Zeit, America SUCKS.

He told Jon Stewart America "has" to be a moral force in the world, and your comment on allowing the Ruling Class to frame the discussion certainly confirms that, Russert being part of the Ruling Class and all.

But when I heard Russert say that, my first thought was, "Why?" and "Says who?" What's wrong with leaving the rest of the world alone? (I already know the answer to that, BTW)

Your comments are interesting. What is a moral force anyway? By definition, "force" means you are subjecting someone else. "Moral force" means you are pushing your morals onto someone else...and is sort of an oxy-moron. Wouldn't it be moral to respect others and not "force" your morals?

Is it not arrogance to think that our way of life should be the only way? That our morals are the only morals worth having?

One of the things that we lack is self examination. It is rather difficult to bring together our ideals and actions at the same time. What is happening now is not new, but then again we are not unique in it either. We should demand that our government lives up to those ideals that we ourselves believe in, but more times than not, we fail.

only because this article deserves some attention..btw we here in australia are no better and in some ways a crueler society..

the belief that one lives in "the best country in the world" and that everyone else "would love to live here" and that one's on countrymen/women can do not wrong is definetly not a characteristic of the citizens of the US alone.

For example we fight a war against the "evil" of saddam yet for years the very victims of said evil man have been locked behind barbed wire in desert (or piss poor pacific nation) camps for daring to try and escape. Most Australians do not care about this or even actively agree with it.

Were the UK, Australia or many other nations (I can only really jusge these two being a citizen of both) as rich/powerful as the US the actions of the powers that be would be pretty much the same.

Communist Party. They're lacking a state sponsor since the collapse of the USSR, and they are probably one of the best (if not the best) organized secular political parties in Iraq. Maybe that could help with China's insatiable appetite for fuel. Just musing here.

certainly before SH they played a part in Iraqi politics..but most leading figures were assinated by SH and they have never recovered ..actually the history of the communist parties in the ME is very interesting..

they have a rep in the CPA (for what that's worth) and are the biggest (purely) political party in Iraq - other groups are larger but are ethnic or religious in their base.

Their website if you're interested (they have pages in several languages - this is the English one) http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/

Low prices at the expesne of humanity.