You only hate torture when Bush does it-You only hate it when we do it to white people-Nuh-uh-Uh-huh

[kpete]

Mainstreaming Brutality
Alex Knapp

...........

We have gone from being the first country that established the principle that prisoners of war should be treated respectfully to a country that operates black sites and sends prisoners to other countries to be tortured–when we don’t torture them ourselves.

In the American Revolution, the number one cause of death for American soldiers was maltreatment and disease in British POW camps. In the Civil War, Andersonville was a cause of national outrage. In the early 20th century, the United States emphatically supported the adoption of the Geneva Conventions. In World War II, German soldiers happily surrendered to Americans in the West, knowing they’d be well treated. But in the East, they fought the Russians to the last man because they knew they wouldn’t be.

Now, in the 21st century, we send robot planes to bomb civilians in a country that’s ostensibly an ally. We have prisons where people are routinely denied basic essentials, denied due process, are maltreated and tortured. We reverse decades of tradition and not only have legalized assassination, but have legalized assassination of United States citizens.

And there’s no outrage on Main Street. There’s no outrage in Washington. There’s only outrage on the internet. And half the internet rage is coming not from the acts themselves but rather partisan bullshit surrounding them. (“You only hate torture when Bush does it!” “You only hate it when we do it to white people!” “Nuh-uh!” “Uh-huh!”)

..................

the rest:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/mainstreaming-brutality/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OTB+%28Outside+The+Beltway+|+OTB%29

[nashville_brook]

1. IOKIODI

it's OK if Obama does it.

[grahamhgreen]

3. I agree, it's OK if Obama does it! FTW!

:sarcasm:

[bvar22]

20. Lets roll the tape!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-15-2010/respect-my-authoritah

[Angry Dragon]

2. This country has lost its moral compass

We have become evil

[ThomCat]

21. When did we ever really have one?

As native people. As people in South and Central America. Ask people in the Philippines. Ask people in Cuba. Ask people in Iran, where it's still living memory that we overthrew their democratically elected government to install a puppet dictator in the middle of the last century. (Which they later overthrew to install a Theocracy. That'll teach us!)

Did we ever really have a moral compass? You can only say yes if you weren't among the people we were sacrificing, torturing, and victimizing to advance American Policies and give American Corporations every possible edge.

You can say yes if you were one of the people who benefited, but it's hard to say yes when you were one of the people getting crushed into the ground so that someone else could make a buck. And hasn't that always been the American way?

[chill_wind]

4. I hated it under Bush Cheney. I hate it now.

It will never be "mainstream" to me no matter how many tools of the neofascist national security apparatus come and go.

[Aerows]

5. It wasn't okay then

and it isn't okay now, and I've never said so. I've argued with Obama defenders on Huffington Post (I refuse to go there now) until I was blue in the face that it isn't suddenly okay now that it's Obama doing it.

[HEyHEY]

6. uh...

"We reverse decades of tradition and not only have legalized assassination, but have legalized assassination of United States citizens."

Says a lot about this guy's world view.

[Rex]

7. Truth hurts.

It is true, Obama gave the greenlight to assassinating American citizens...not smart.

[HEyHEY]

8. I'm just being picky about how it's wriiten, as if US lives are more valuable

[Rex]

10. Oh sorry, I misinterpreted what you meant.

Me being stupid again, sorry. :hi:

[EFerrari]

11. Not more valuable, just more repulsive for a government

to target its own citizens.

[Tesha]

17. It's actually highlighting a critical *LEGAL* distinction.

Killing non-Americans without due process of law
might or might not be illegal, depending a lot of
circumstances.

But killing an American citizen without due process
of law is a blatant violation of our Constitution, supposedly
our highest law.

And Obama has approved of violating this highest law.

Tesha

[sabrina 1]

9. Yes, it does, it says he knows what he's talking about.

Obama has gone further than Bush, he kept his crimes secret, Obama is far more open about this crime, assassinating U.S. citizens without trial or even charges. And the 'left' suddenly became deaf and blind. Amazing how that works. I thought only Republicans were afflicted with that desease, but now I know better.

[johnroshan]

12. And you become a monster, So the monster will not break you... /nt.

[xchrom]

13. Recommend

[NuclearDem]

14. When you stare down into the abyss...

The abyss stares back.

[malaise]

15. Torture is torture

K & R

[Scuba]

16. Not the America in which I grew up. Shame, shame, shame.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. I mostly agree with the author, but the internet is Mainstreet now.

There is not one and then the other, they are one and the same.

[blindpig]

19. Empire has it's necessities...

as does it's modern progenitor, Capitalism. Gotta do what ya gotta do....

Tear it all down.