Bad-Bye, Bad-Riddance, and Fair Poorly. Its finally over.

On one point:

Actually the US has performed acts upon it's own citizens...Bill Clinton, in 1997, for instance, apologized in office for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study where in 1932 blacks were infected with syphilis without their knowledge and even after penicillin was discovered as a cure they were allowed to continue to suffer for 40 years because the scientists wanted to be given the opportunity for postmortem examinations of the interior of their bodies.

And this is just one case of several that could be cited.

On another point:

Iraq was not invaded for oil...OBL and terrorists were the original objective...WMD was an excuse to invade Iraq after the first and second objectives failed...Junior thought it would be a walk in the park...

he was wrong.

That's truly horrific, but it's not the least bit current. So if you use a 75 yr old piece of evidence, the very most it might support is a statement like "we were as bad as Saddam". However even that is tenuous since we don't know that the government ordered it or knew about it. It might've been done by that group of scientists. We're also talking about a time period in which equal rights was entirely still a far off dream. Barbaric, absolutely, but a fact of our past.

It was government approved and sanctioned ;) That's why Billy-Bob apologized for it.

But...you're right...that was a chapter in the past...but it wasn't 75 years ago...the study concluded in the 70's ;)...1972 I think.

And it was one of many such studies and public experiments...and not only on minorities but also the poor of any color.

" If we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it " ;)

I can see reason why government would apologize for something like that even if it weren't sanctioned and approved by the gov., can't you?

I entertain no fantasies about our (or any) government being a shining example of right or justice personified, quite the contrary, however I can't equate them with tyrannical despotism.

I can see reason why they would too...but all the same it was sanctioned as were many others...the apology was an all-encompassing one meant to cover all such experiments rolled up into one nice package ;)

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however I can't equate them with tyrannical despotism

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Absolutely agree...and have said so many times...of all Great Empires throughout history since the city-states of Greece ( and the US is an Empire ) only the US has been anti-colonial...the US attacks, invades, and has in some cases even pillaged...but it does not colonialize...
the US might invade a country but it will eventually leave on it's own accord...it will not take the country and keep it...it will protect it's interests but allow for sovereign reign...
in this respect as well as many others the US is the most just and co-operative of all Great Empires. ;)

In fact I think history will testify to that fact...and record it.

This brings to mind a conversation I had with a fellow in a pub in northern England. He was saying that he feels that Great Britain did a better job of "leading the world", as he put it, than the US is doing. I pointed out what you just said, that we didn't colonize so much of the world, where GB did, once. We DID however steal this hunk of real estate by butchering a beneficent native people who were here 1st.

Then I told him, "You have no idea how much I would like to give that job back to you". I loathe our current role in international affairs, and not just under this administration either.

As far as an over-all picture of the US is concerned...it is the Greatest Empire that has ever existed...not only in sheer power but also in conscience...the US more than any other Great Nation that has ever existed is keenly aware of it's responsibility in wielding that power...
even though some politicians may abuse that responsibility.

The US isn't another country...it is an Empire...a social, political, and economic empire.

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The US isn't another country...it is an Empire...a social, political, and economic empire.

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As long as China doesn't call in it's loans...:eek:

"Bad Riddance"? Are you saying you think it was bad that Saddam was gotten rid of?

You realize that's a pretty unique outlook on the US, you have there, Eg. I find it refreshing.