Edcrab said:Ah, the wonders of the variable truth. God knows what actually happened and what else is slanderous rumour or pure hearsay these days.
I completely agree.
Edcrab said:For every Iraqi coming forward with a genuine claim of torture or other abuse, there'd be at least another with an entirely fabricated allegation designed purely to "jump on the bandwagon" and further undermine coalition forces.
And for every Iraqi coming forward saying "They tortured me!" "They strafed civilians with machine gun fire!" there is a US military official saying: "Well, we believe we only hit combatants, but we're looking into it."
Edcrab said:People, these days, don't know what to believe. Politicians are voted in to act as charismatic liars and misdirect us from actual happenings... if we don't know about it, we don't care, and so we carry on regardless.
I agree again. Politicians believe -> Voter Ignorance = Politician Bliss
Edcrab said:America always makes me think of Microsoft. It's huge, rich and powerful, many hate and despise it for these reasons, and yet continue to engage in trade with them.
I think what people "hate" in America is not so much the country but a stereotypical attitude of superiority. Whenever you hear about American actions, you will instantly be reminded of what they're not doing, what they "should" be doing, and that they have a military budget large enough to buy a country.
Nice microsoft analogy :thumbs:
With the attitude thing - that seems to be reinforced at almost every level in the American social system. One of the things that struck me the most was when the DoD FINALLY started condemning the torture/abuse at Abu Grahib.
His words: "That (the abuse) was un-American" (paraphrased slightly)
Surely a more accurate description would be: "That was inhumane."