Rusted Knight

“History is full of the shipwrecks of nations and empires.” Victor Hugo

Why do I care if the government of the United States uses unmanned drones to murder human beings it suspects of being terrorists? What does it matter to a middle-aged guy living on the coast of California, on the margins of the American Riviera no less, where the sun shines most days of the year and the real estate is more valuable than gold, and where famous people come to escape the rigors of their success? What does it have to do with the price of bread or a decent bottle of single malt scotch?

I don’t know, but it bothers me, the same way a sliver of glass in my shoe would bother me. I think it’s the hypocrisy more than anything else. Cut the crap already, tell the truth; our country passes itself off to the world as the good guy, the knight in shining armor, protector of the weak and poor, a force for justice and liberty, but a few people in the White House, and the president himself, working in secret, decide who lives and who dies and they don’t seem to care if innocents are killed or maimed in the process.

What would happen if Turkey or Iran decided to build a fleet of attack drones and use them to take out any man or men – anywhere in the world -- they deemed a threat to their security? Would the US stand idly by and let them? Hell, no. We would scream “violation of international law!” and “convene the UN Security Council,” and, “this is a grave threat to world peace!”

The only country in the world the United States allows to kill with impunity is our ward, Israel. Like its more powerful mentor, Israel only murders people as a last resort, and only based on irrefutable evidence that it alone can verify.

Are we as barbaric as the terrorists with whom we’re locked in endless war?  Have we adopted their tactics? Have we become them, willing to shed the blood of innocents if it moves us nearer our political or economic objectives? Willing to torture, detain, disappear? Willing to abandon our principles, the rule of law, due process?

Our hysterical response to 9/11 has poisoned our national soul. At home by virtue of the Patriot Act and abroad with invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, we have become a nation more fearful and less free. Not that I believe the United States was a paragon of virtue prior to 9/11; we supported an all-star collection of tyrants and dictators in the name of fighting Communism, and swung our military stick in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East when it suited us.

I suppose what 9/11 did was remove the restraints, the inclination to avoid the use of force; now we bomb first and establish guilt second, and every time we do, Dick Cheney smiles with pride.