Cheney versus History
Dick Cheney, in response to the criticisms that Amnesty International leveled against the US for human rights violations, had this to say: "I think the fact of the matter is the United States has done more to advance the cause of freedom, has liberated more people from tyranny over the course of the 20th century and up to the present day than any other nation in the history of the world."
This vision of the US as the great liberator is, of course, the standard dogma of the American civic religion, and it is what we are all taught in American schools, in the news media, and by politicians throughout our lives. The reality is something quite different. Ask the citizens of Chile about what happened to them in 1973, when their democracy was overthrown with the help of the CIA and replaced by a brutal dictatorship. Ask the citizens of Guatemala in 1954, or in Iran in 1953, whose democracies suffered a similar fate--once again, at the hands of the CIA. Ask the citizens of Nicaragua whose families and friends were murdered by the US-supported Contra terrorists in the 1980s. Ask the citizens of El Salvador, whose families and friends were murdered by the US-supported death squads there. Ask the citizens of various other brutal dictatorships through history that have been supported by the US government in the pursuit of American corporate interests--from Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain, to the current brutal dictatorship in Uzbekistan, whose ruler has been known to boil alive his political opponents.
Cheney's claims about the human rights record of the United States in the last century are, of course, false, but they serve as convenient falsehoods. We all know that the current Bush regime supports "democracy" as long as the results give Bush what he wants, as long as they serve US corporate interests. As soon as any government, anywhere in the world, democratically seeks to defy US foreign policy, then suddenly Bush and Cheney sing a different tune. Just ask the citizens of Venezuela, whose democratic government was almost overthrown by a US-supported coup in 2002.
Amnesty International is a respected human rights organization, one that has one a Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts, and which has demonstrated ideological neutrality in its criticisms of any nation that violates human rights. The fact that Bush, Cheney, and their right wing cohorts in the news media (such as Bill O'Reilly) have now set their sights on Amnesty International and attacked its credibility is only par for the course for the Right. One thing that is never tolerated in the dominant American political culture, as defined by the US Right, is any criticism whatsoever of the US government or its foreign policy. The US (or at least the Bush regime), according to the Right Wing mind set, is above reproach. Nothing the US ever does is wrong, and anyone who dares to introduce any facts into this discussion that suggest otherwise are simply "anti-American" or "America haters". This is a typical smear tactic, which avoids discussing the substance of the specific charges and instead relies on ad hominem attacks to divert the discussion.
It is thus hardly surprising that, when a credible human rights organization points out that the US is violating human rights somewhere, the Bush regime and his loyal army of right wing pundits would try to discredit the credibility of that organization. Smear tactics are an essential element of the Right Wing arsenal of rhetorical weapons.
This vision of the US as the great liberator is, of course, the standard dogma of the American civic religion, and it is what we are all taught in American schools, in the news media, and by politicians throughout our lives. The reality is something quite different. Ask the citizens of Chile about what happened to them in 1973, when their democracy was overthrown with the help of the CIA and replaced by a brutal dictatorship. Ask the citizens of Guatemala in 1954, or in Iran in 1953, whose democracies suffered a similar fate--once again, at the hands of the CIA. Ask the citizens of Nicaragua whose families and friends were murdered by the US-supported Contra terrorists in the 1980s. Ask the citizens of El Salvador, whose families and friends were murdered by the US-supported death squads there. Ask the citizens of various other brutal dictatorships through history that have been supported by the US government in the pursuit of American corporate interests--from Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain, to the current brutal dictatorship in Uzbekistan, whose ruler has been known to boil alive his political opponents.
Cheney's claims about the human rights record of the United States in the last century are, of course, false, but they serve as convenient falsehoods. We all know that the current Bush regime supports "democracy" as long as the results give Bush what he wants, as long as they serve US corporate interests. As soon as any government, anywhere in the world, democratically seeks to defy US foreign policy, then suddenly Bush and Cheney sing a different tune. Just ask the citizens of Venezuela, whose democratic government was almost overthrown by a US-supported coup in 2002.
Amnesty International is a respected human rights organization, one that has one a Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts, and which has demonstrated ideological neutrality in its criticisms of any nation that violates human rights. The fact that Bush, Cheney, and their right wing cohorts in the news media (such as Bill O'Reilly) have now set their sights on Amnesty International and attacked its credibility is only par for the course for the Right. One thing that is never tolerated in the dominant American political culture, as defined by the US Right, is any criticism whatsoever of the US government or its foreign policy. The US (or at least the Bush regime), according to the Right Wing mind set, is above reproach. Nothing the US ever does is wrong, and anyone who dares to introduce any facts into this discussion that suggest otherwise are simply "anti-American" or "America haters". This is a typical smear tactic, which avoids discussing the substance of the specific charges and instead relies on ad hominem attacks to divert the discussion.
It is thus hardly surprising that, when a credible human rights organization points out that the US is violating human rights somewhere, the Bush regime and his loyal army of right wing pundits would try to discredit the credibility of that organization. Smear tactics are an essential element of the Right Wing arsenal of rhetorical weapons.
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