What Kind of Country......?
by William Hessell
6/8/06


In reading the news this week, I've been struck by an overwhelming question-- "What kind of nation have we become?" Monday's LA Times headline revealed that the new Army manuals have been changed to eliminate any reference to the banning of humiliation and degradation of suspected enemy combattants in the course of interrogation.  Tuesday's paper included further revelations in our government's involving other nations in the secret transfer of suspects to countries where use of torture in interrogation is much more accepted, and can be done more secretly, than here.  (Isn't "rendition" a nicely sanitized term?) Wednesday's paper found the United States being up-braided by Indonesia for having "an image problem", related to using military and economic power in ubiquitous and over-insistent ways.  Interesting, the US being lectured by Indonesia, a country that for years was accustomed to Suharto's tyrannical rule, on proper ways to exercise power.  Added to recent public cirticism by non-partisan, humanitarian organizations such as the International Red Cross, Amnesty Int'l, Human Rights Watch, and others over our conduct in overseas activities, a pattern is all too obvious.  While I am aware that there has often been a disconnect between our professed values and our actual practices, ranging from the Indian wars of centuries ago to the Latin American policies of our generation, there seems to be something appreciably different going on now.  Our attempts to conceal the blunt realities of our activities are so transparent, so obviously false, that it is as if it hardly matters if we are seen as "bad guys".  After all, the other guys are worse, and winning is all that is really important anyway, regardless of the cost to our moral integrity and to our stature in the eyes of others.  This distorted ethic is, unfortunately, increasingly mirrored in domestic events, as an erosion of long-standing guidelines of conduct are evident in all phases of social, economic, and political life in our country.  Those who truly love the United States, and want to see it realize the hopes, purposes, and principles professed by our founders, would do well to ask "What kind of nation are we becoming?"