Hard to Fathom

Trey Smith

Each year, the U.S. State Department, as required by law, issues a “Human Rights Report” which details abuses by other countries. To call it an exercise in hypocrisy is to understate the case: it is almost impossible to find any tyrannical power denounced by the State Department which the U.S. Government (and its closest allies) do not regularly exercise itself. Indeed, it’s often impossible to imagine how the authors of these reports can refrain from cackling mischievously over the glaring ironies of what they are denouncing (my all-time favorite example is discussed in the update here).

In 2010, the State Department included a long section on the oppressive detention practices of China. The “principal human rights problems” of the tyrannical Chinese government include “a lack of due process in judicial proceedings” and “the use of administrative detention.” Indeed, “arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems. The law grants police broad administrative detention powers and the ability to detain individuals for extended periods without formal arrest or criminal charges.” Can one even find the words to condemn these Chinese monsters?
~ from Khader Adnan and Now-Normalized Western Justice by Glenn Greenwald ~

If you haven't noticed, it is this kind of information that gives rise to my frequent and vehement denunciations of my own government. While ALL governments are hypocrites, it is hard to fathom that any nation on the face of the earth is more hypocritical than our very own.

We criticize others for the kinds of things we routinely do and our leaders don't bat as much as an eyelash at the, shall I say, irony.

Just take a look at one contemporary issue. Our leaders are all up in arms because Iran is pursuing nuclear power and, potentially, nuclear weapons. We might have a wobbly leg to stand on IF we ourselves were trying to curtail -- better yet, end -- our use of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

But we are doing nothing of the sort! We possess the second most nuclear warheads (slightly behind Russia) in the world and we happen to be the only nation to drop nuclear bombs during a war. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, we have utilized depleted uranium in the various bombs and missiles that we have rained down on these countries. We are the poster child for the irresponsible threat and use of nuclear weapons.

So, why do we get to decide which nations can possess nuclear technology and which ones cannot? Personally, I would like to see ALL nations agree to eschew nukes and to phase out nuclear energy, but that prospect -- particularly in the US -- is unlikely. So, if we have the right to jeopardize the health and safety of the entire world, why shouldn't Iran have the same right as well?