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Hank, It seems to me that right from the start, in our educational system, we are taught, as children, that America is the best. The American way of doing things is always the best, and that all other systems are inferior. We are also conditioned to be capable of maintaining to conflicting opinions simultaneously. We can look at practices engaged in by other governments for example, and told how wrong it is, and at the same time, when the American government engages in similar or even more egregious activities we are told it is done with different intentions and that makes it right. We are being told that the abuse and torture of the Iraqi prisoners is wrong, however, that it is not what we believe in. At the same time, we are given the excuse that these people we just following orders. We didn't accept that excuse in Nuremberg, and we cannot use it now. We also cannot brag about bringing democracy to Iraq thus freeing them from a repressive and tortuous system, while at the same time, trying to explain away the horrible activities we engage in. For almost 4 months the Pentagon and the administration was aware of this situation, and yet did not make the public aware of it, or even inform congress until last week. And even then, General Myers requested CBS hold the photos for two weeks before releasing them to the public. And then, having an additional 14 days, he and Rumsfeld still did not bother reading the report that was submitted to them by the general in charge of the investigation. The biggest problem the U.S. has is never being able to admit when it has a problem. Michael -----Original Message----- From: Defending the Truth discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of WEBMASTER Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 8:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [RHETORIC] Torture and Democracy?! |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ANNOUNCEMENTS and ARTICLES: http://pnews.org/art/art.shtml |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Ed and others: This is a national disgrace. What is perplexing are how so many can defend this system even in the face of such obvious evidence and and all examples and when some people hear about them, it is as if they lived in some other universe. Either they are shocked and surprised or they simply find some reason to excuse this behavior. When I listened to all those calls coming in on C-Span a few days ago after the news of torture broke in the media I found the statements incredulous. And the lack of compassion was even more stark and revealing, I suppose, about our national psychy which almost seems surreal. I've asked you this before Ed. Why and how did we get to this point? We're probably among the most patriotic people and we think we're better but there are too many examples/incidences which demonstrate otherwise. Just read William Blum's books on how many times we intervene for our own interests and the collateral effects is the destruction of life and promulgation of pain and suffering. Why would we even have to ask why they hate us? Michael Moore asks the same thing when he did Bowling for Columbine: What makes us so violent? But what also makes so many of us so insensitive? To bring up Fromm again: What is normal here is insane. Hank --- / o o \ PNEWS Topic Specific Portals (Vortals) ===OO=====OO================================================= http://pnews.org/vortal/ New World disOrder and Myth Busters http://g0lem.net/vortal/ Insane Planet and Wacko World http://g0lem.net/portal/ Bad-Ass Truth and TheGolemsPortal http://pnews.org/portal/ Naked Truth and PNEWS Portal ============================================================= \_/ \_/ [MF-7T27VC2] --- / o o \ PNEWS Topic Specific Portals (Vortals) ===OO=====OO================================================= http://pnews.org/vortal/ New World disOrder and Myth Busters http://g0lem.net/vortal/ Insane Planet and Wacko World http://g0lem.net/portal/ Bad-Ass Truth and TheGolemsPortal http://pnews.org/portal/ Naked Truth and PNEWS Portal ============================================================= \_/ \_/
