They do not hate us because we are good. They hate us because we are a selfish and evil people consumed with our own comfort and drowning in the fetid smell of our own decay. We are a depraved, unproductive, and brutal empire on the brink of collapse. …if they knew the whole truth, they would hate us even more.
From: Insolent Media Center
We Americans like to think of ourselves as civilized people. Historically, we have supported our government in war under the belief that our government and our soldiers are honorable and that we do not engage in unjust wars. Ugly things like genocide, torture, naked aggression, raping, pillaging, and scorched earth policies are things that others do, not us. Since we are so good and virginal in every sense, we reason that others hate us only because of our goodness and purity. If they knew the truth about us, we think, they would love us.
Yet, if this is so, why is it that we need to hide from the world the activities of our soldiers and intelligence agents over seas? Why cannot we, the “liberators” of Iraq, show the world the lovely photos of our soldiers at work Abu Ghraib? Why must the CIA consider destroying the records of American conduct in the prisons at Guantanamo? We are so pure, clean, honorable, and all, aren’t we? What have we got to worry about?
Could it be that those baby faced soldiers we praise and pay tribute to are not as honorable as we would like to believe? According to the latest body keeping the Oval Office seat warm, release of photos showing the activities of our soldiers, activities ordered by George Bush and Dick Cheney, would make the world hate us more than they already do and would, as a consequence, endanger the lives of our soldiers. Just how horrible are these images?
Leave a Reply