The revelation that our troops require a "values refresher" (
http://www.cnn.com/...) in order to restrain themselves from indiscriminately slaughtering innocents in Iraq should put each and every one of us on notice:
We are monsters.
It really is a straightforward task to drill down to the root cause of atrocities such Haditha, Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo. It derives from the ingrained at-any-cost cowboy mentality which has pervaded this country from its inception. In the name of the "progress" of this country, we have historically justified genocide, enslavement, internment, brutality, and now, torture, wiretapping and conquest.
Our leaders paint our enemy "du jour" with the broad brushstrokes of hate, attacking one Arab country for the unconnected terrorist acts of a shadowy network of ex-CIA assets, inciting them to Bring it On, and then we wonder how we can commit such vicious atrocities.
There is no way around the long look in the deep dark truthful mirror that we must engage in as a nation, as human beings, if this ends-justifies-the-means paradigm is to end.
It is all of us. We are monsters. We can no longer point to someone in clubby Washington, in our dysfunctional state governments, in soul-less corporate America, or in some other political party, to assuage our responsibility for these atrocities.
The shame, the pain, the guilt, the sadness - is ours. We -- you and I -- are the monsters.
We have developed a system dominated by pathological profit-making entities who have virtually the same rights as you and I. Our most hallowed institutions have displayed an increasing tendency to protect the rights of these sociopathic corporate entities -- with billions in corporate welfare, court rulings which treat campaign contributions as protected speech while at the same time clamping down on the "free" speech rights of non-corporate citizens, and wars of economic conquest to lubricate the defense and oil industries.
What is left of the soaring ideological principles that founded this country? Or were they ever really there to begin with? Where are we headed this time in the name of progress? What will we justify next? What are we? What have we become?
There is no room left for distinctions.
We are monsters.