A long-time Guantanamo Bay detainee and victim of torture has credibly described torture even more extensive and brutal than the horrrors described in the Senate report on torture a few months ago. What is wrong with us, that this isn’t even news, much less actionable as a scandal?
American Exceptionalism
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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American Exceptionalism:
The belief that no matter how many foreign governments and their elections the US subverts; no matter how many baseless wars devastate no matter how many millions; no matter how many are tortured and imprisoned without cause for no matter how long; no matter how many American minorities populate the extreme lower economic classes and its prisons: The Government of the USA would NEVER do anything so cruel, underhanded and deceptive to its own exceptional people.
…and that is the belief that will bring us down. It’s like the “stand your ground” idiots – it never occurs to them that if they can shoot anybody they like, anybody who likes can shoot them. We can torture, they can torture; we can bomb civilians, they can bomb civilians.
I got into an argument with a bunch of so-called liberals back when UBL was illegally assassinated. Several of ’em made the observation, “Well, it’s not like he’s killing Americans”
A few short months later, he killed American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
If our government can kill Americans on foreign soil, then they can kill Americans on domestic soil. Who could complain? I’m sure they’ll only kill bad guys, of course. How do we know they’re bad guys? Same way we know al Awlaki was a bad guy. They told us so.
Now go back to sleep.
And that’s why it should have been stopped before it got a good foothold!
But the government did a good job of making everybody afraid and willing to give up their rights and to be willing to turn against their neighbors, for the sake of “security.”
🙁
“How do democracies get turned into dictatorships? The democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away…”
Attributed to George Lucas.
The measure of a country is how closely its actions match its stated “mission.”
We ARE exceptional (and No.1, don’cha know!!!) but only in the monumental GAP between what we say we are
and what we actually do.
Normally this implies “only” fraud but, in our “exceptional” case, we use our meticulously advertised reputation to justify continual mass murder across the world.
Well, Ted, if you come up with a take on this particular penchant among US politicians – which alas, seems far from exceptional – I’ll be thanking you for your service as well : http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/05/pete_ricketts_death_penalty_nebraska_governor_claims_he_will_carry_out_executions.html ….
Henri
Continuing on in the vein of my comment below. If the president can execute anyone he likes without regard to the law, then a governor…
Wasn’t the death penalty once ruled by the SCOTUS to be unconstitutional — as in “cruel & unusual punishment”? Or did I dream that???
What happened in the interim?
The Soviets warned the world about the U.S. menace all through the Cold War. All the while the sociopathic U.S. elites accused the USSR of being “paranoid” and spreading “propaganda”.
Here is a quote for all the haters of communism and the punkass America-lovers. Its veracity is beyond question:
“…in the new exuberant aggressiveness of world capitalism we see what communists and their allies held at bay.” – Richard Levins