Re: [Biofuel] Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Worst terror attacks in history

[RobertCVA]

RE:  post excerpted below.   Some hard questions, and painful for those of us in the US who are conflicted about the good and bad our country, or its citizens, have done in and to the world, and in this country itself.   [As I write this, I have in my wallet a $20 bill, with the picture of Andrew Jackson, known for many things, but perhaps most ignominiously as a proponent of Indian removal.  Such a person we honor?]   The US population in 2005 is about 4.6% of the world total today, yet we lay claim to about 25% of the world's resources and impact, for better or probably worse, an even larger share.  Because "God Shed His Grace on [We]," as one of our anthems says?  Uh, I have a hard time believing that.  With great power goes great responsibility.  Interesting times ahead.   That said, I have a question that perhaps someone out there can address, re: "Dysentery, starvation (due to ten years of sanctions) and war in Iraq.", specifically concerning the sanctions.  Whatever the US role in those sanctions, it has always seemed to me that Saddam Hussein had the resources to address the basic health/sanitation needs of his people but instead chose to spend it on a lavish lifestyle for himself, his family, and supporters, and on other nonessentials compared to basic needs.  Yet, almost without exception, the US gets blamed for this humanitarian disaster during the sanctions.  Why?                                                                               Bob     In a message dated 8/8/2005 9:30:40 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: "I grow a little weary of revisionist history."   Yes. Those pesky researchers and their new discoveries. Why can't we just keep history the way "the victors" wrote it.   "Hirohito, Hitler, and even our ally Stalin were not on the humanitarian side of the leger."   So this is where I (and perhaps some others in this group) struggle to understand. The statement itself, prompts some questions. When one judges another's humanity, it helps to have some references.   The Third Reich was not a humanitarian state because, during it's short reign, it was responsible for the violent deaths of tens of millions of people in the pursuit of empire. So far, so good. Here are some other questions that (IMO) help paint a bigger picture of the "humanity" expressed by a particular government..   Can an empire be defined as a show of vast political control by military or economic means?   Can the acts that cause suffering among the inhabitants of an empire be the result of both what it does and doesn't do?   Can the acts that cause suffering among the inhabitants of an empire be the result of what it can but, won't do because it doesn't contribute toward the building of an empire?   If you answered "yes" to all three questions, you've effectively described the US government. When answering "yes" to the second and third question, you've prompted the next question which tries to evaluate the amount of suffering caused by it's actions or in-actions:   ** Dysentery, starvation (due to ten years of sanctions) and war in Iraq ** AIDS in Africa (restricting medication and pursuing legal action against patent infringement) ** Poverty in Haiti and numerous other countries (keeping the outsourcing of cheap labor alive) ** Corporate dictatorships that spread terror in countries like Columbia, etc, etc.   These are only a few examples that occur as a result of the actions of our last three or four administrations. When one considers the violent acts committed by our government during it's entire history, it gets much more disturbing.   So, is it the brutally violent acts of a particular short lived regime or the more covert acts committed methodically and sometimes less directly (i.e. proxy wars) over a period of many decades which is less humane? More importantly, who plays the roll of aggressor, reactionary and victim will change as the propaganda of it's time served it's purpose and the revisionists can go to work.   Mike   Tom Irwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

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