Country Crock: Spreading the Margarine of Freedom When Some Prefer Real Butter (part 2)

Look at how the U.S. "helped liberate" Chile in 1973. Secret documents released in '00 forced the White House to acknowledge the truth:

"Actions approved by the US Government during this period aggravated political polarization and affected Chile's long tradition of democratic elections and respect for constitutional order and the rule of law." – White House

In the end the U.S. got their way and President Salvador Allende was overthrown and General Augusto Pinochet was put in power. However General Pinochet's rule was marked by brutal repression that saw thousands die and thousands more flee into exile, many key political figures were tortured or simply disappeared. The U.S. turned a blind eye.

Under Papa Bush the CIA funneled millions of dollars to undermine the 1990 Nicaragua elections, again not to the benefit of that countries people.

And let us not forget Afghanistan, during Reagan's term the U.S. helped expunge the Russian invaders. This was solely because the U.S. was not playing nice with Russia at the time and could not let them spread their filthy commie politics.

What you do not hear is that Russia were not invaders, they were working hand in hand with the Afghan government and had helped improved education of the Afghan people and were bringing modern technology into Afghanistan.

To top it of, as time has revealed the U.S. funded and trained a funny little group of people called the Taliban to help them with the Russian problem and of course once Russia was gone the U.S. looked the other way as the Taliban dragged Afghanistan back to the dark ages.

These are not just sins of the past, this is all still going on today. In 2004 the United States using a quasi-governmental organization created during the Reagan years and funded largely by Congress, pumped about a million dollars a year into groups opposed to Venezuela President Hugo Chávez. And we still remember Haiti right? It wasn't that long ago it dominated the headlines.

It seems that once an event falls off the front page people think it is over. If only that were true but when Iraq is old news it will still be years before the damage is cleaned up and very likely the Iraqi people we be in the arms of yet another cruel dictator.

Another good example of out-of-sight out-of-mind; the news of abuse of Iraqi prisoners was everywhere but the same thing happening in Afghanistan barely made it to the airwaves. Nor was more than a whisper of information ever released about the suspected U.S. massacre of captured the Taliban soldiers.

SHOCK, would we do such thing, the all too morally superior United States? All of this should come as no surprise, it's not like we didn't do it in South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. We’ve all seen Platoon! America’s foreign view has not exactly advanced since then. We, if anything, view ourselves even more separated from the rest of the "immoral and violent" World.

Of course our morality is selective. With all this spreading of democracy the U.S. still supports regimes in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria and all but completely ignores the oppression and atrocities being committed in Sudan, China, Tibet and any other country that does not offer a military advantage or natural resources to profit from.

Maybe it is time for Americans to pay attention to the rest of the World and stop being so self involved and arrogant. Maybe it is time that the United States starts living up to the image of the Great Country it wants everyone to see it as. But to do this the American people need actually to participate in their government again and hold their leaders accountable?

Maybe it's time to read past the headlines and vote?