The United States of Amorality

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Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:35:26 -0500 (EST)

The United States of Amorality

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OpEdNews.com

 

Original Article at

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ken_sand_051129_the_united_states_of.htm

 

November 29, 2005

 

The United States of Amorality

 

We can all forget about God blessing America. No God would bless such

a narcissistic nation. It's time to dispense with our deluded and

romanticized notions of America standing for truth, justice, or the

rule of law. We subvert such principles whenever it suits us. No more

pointing to the Ten Commandments as the cornerstone of our collective

conscience. We have none.

 

Regardless of all of its self-righteousness, its arrogance, and its

feigned piety, the United States is a nation devoid of morality. The

U.S. government and a majority of Americans don't think their actions

fall within the quaint and inconvenient parameters of right and wrong,

good and bad. More to the point, the U.S. thinks it can do no wrong.

Rather, the U.S. believes itself to be intrinsically good, infallible,

and above reproach. Indeed, as far as the U.S. is concerned, it is the

only nation and the only people incapable of wrongdoing, much less evil.

 

In fact, the U.S. is not only capable of great evil, it commits acts

of great evil on a near daily basis. It commits such acts because it

has no moral center. It commits such acts because it thinks and

behaves like a spoiled child - as though it is entitled to do and have

anything it wants. It thinks itself chosen by God and the sole

recipient of His divine favoritism. As a result, the U.S. perceives

the rest of the world as scorned by God, to one degree or another. As

the one true favorite of the Almighty, the U.S. sees nothing wrong

with disrupting, bullying, and invading other countries. It has no

problem with unilaterally declaring international laws inapplicable to

it, but fully enforceable against all others.

 

A nation that believes itself incapable of evil understands neither

good nor evil. A nation that thinks itself capable only of good is

blind to its acts of evil. A nation that anoints itself as the final

arbiter of morality is too arrogant to be truly moral itself. Having

no capacity to acknowledge its capacity for evil, such a nation

believes that all of its acts are justified. Put differently, it

behaves like a sociopath - amoral and without conscience.

 

The amorality of the United States manifests itself in many ways. Its

policy of immediate gratification known as realpolitik. Its refusal to

see any need to keep track of the number of Iraqi civilians it kills

in order to " liberate " them. Its indignation at the prospect of being

accountable to any international body or tribunal. All are examples of

the United States' utter lack of any sense of moral responsibility or

accountability.

 

The ongoing revelations of the United States' policy of torture and

degradation is an extremely instructive example of the United States'

collective amorality. Despite the continually mounting evidence of

America's torture of suspected terrorists and insurgents, of a

clandestine network of CIA " interrogation " centers in torture-friendly

countries, and of the so-called extraordinary rendition of terror

suspects to such countries, most Americans see no need for change.

With the exception of the extremely small dissident community,

Americans are hard-pressed to find anything wrong with torturing

alleged terrorists. Their response to the CIA's black sites and

torture flights is, " So what? "

 

Most Americans, when confronted with evidence of the United States'

torture policies and practices, strive to come up with

rationalizations and justifications. We are at war against a great

evil, rendering the traditional rules of war " quaint " and

inappropriate. We should not be held to higher standards than those we

are fighting. Torture is necessary to gain " actionable intelligence "

to prevent another 9/11 from occurring. The alleged torture we inflict

isn't really torture at all; it's more akin to frat house hazing.

 

The United States' cavalier attitude toward torture, black sites, and

extraordinary rendition stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of

the rest of the world, particularly Europe. While the United States'

law enforcement agencies, judiciary, and citizenry sit idly by, their

European counterparts, outraged by the revelations, are seriously

investigating the United States' actions. What the United States deems

perfectly appropriate, the European Union finds abhorrent and contrary

to basic principles of human rights and decency. What elicits little

more than a shrug of the shoulders in the United States elicits moral

outrage in Europe.

 

In Spain, police have identified as many as 42 CIA operatives

suspected of having taken part extraordinary rendition flights of

kidnapped terror suspects to interrogation centers in Afghanistan,

Egypt, and other countries with relaxed torture laws. The Spanish are

investigating because a dozen such flights stopped over in Mallorca on

their way to their final destination. Prosecutors in Munich have asked

Spanish police for a copy of their findings as part of Germany's

investigation into the kidnapping of a German citizen who was tortured

and beaten for six months before his abductors realized he had no

connection to terrorism. Some of the CIA operatives identified by the

Spanish police are reportedly among the more than 20 agents who have

been indicted by Italian prosecutors on similar charges. Italian

prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the CIA agents and have

asked the Italian Justice Ministry to demand the agents' extradition

from the U.S. The governments of Sweden and Norway are conducting

their own investigations into CIA torture flights using their

airfields. Switzerland is investigating whether the United States

violated Swiss sovereignty and international law by routing CIA

flights through Geneva.

 

It's not merely individual European countries that are appalled at the

United States' institutional disregard for human rights. The Council

of Europe - the EU's human rights watchdog organization - demanded

that by February 21, 2006, all 46 of its member states provide any

information they have regarding illegal jailing of suspected

terrorists, or flights that have been used to transport such suspects.

Additionally, the Council has requested from Europe's air traffic

control agency the unpublished flight logs of military and civilian

flights. Any European countries found to have participated in the

United States' torture practices could be suspended or expelled from

the Council, as well as subjected to fines and loss of trade privileges.

 

The EU has also requested that its Satellite Tracking Center turn over

imagery of alleged CIA black sites in Romania and Poland. Moreover,

the EU's executive body has directed its head of the Department of

Justice, Freedom and Security, to demand answers from the Bush

administration regarding the secret prisons.

 

In all likelihood, the United States in general, and the Bush

administration in particular, will simply dismiss the various European

investigations as politically motivated. Alternatively, the U.S. will

ignore the investigations outright. In either case, the United States

will indignantly insist that it has not done anything wrong or even

questionable in its global war on terror. It will suffer no crisis of

conscience.

 

Lacking empathy and morality, the United States is relieved of the

burden of a conscience and all of its unnecessary limitations.

 

 

 

Authors Website: www.politicsofdissent.blogspot.com

 

Authors Bio: Ken Sanders is a lawyer and writer in Tucson, Arizona.

His publishing credits include Op Ed News, Z Magazine, Democratic

Underground, Dissident Voice, and Common Dreams. More of his writing

can be found on his weblog at http://www.politicsofdissent.blogspot.com.