The Immoral Nation


The recent release and shooting of Il Manifesto reporter Giuliana Sgrena and her Italian military intelligence escort reminded me of how immoral the United States culture has become, but it not why you think.

I won't recount the details of the event, the obvious fabrications or the blatant contradictions in the US military's official story. One thing that really struck me was the response by Italian President Silvio Berlusconi to the shooting. And it wasn't because Berlusconi is some saint or great leader. He's every bit the criminal that little-boy-Bush is. Which is really saying something for Europe.

But this racist, convicted criminal, neo-con took a hard public line against his chief ally when a journalist from the complete opposite end of the political spectrum was shot under very suspicious circumstances. Compare that with the reaction of President Clinton to the questionable arrest and conviction of political prisoner Laurie Berenson in Peru in 1996. He did nothing to hold his then ally President Fujimore accountable. He did nothing to have her released. She's still there serving a 20 year sentence.

Even more glaring is the blatant murder of 20 year old peace activist Rachel Corrie by the Israeli Defense Forces, who crushed her with a bulldozer. There's even video footage of the murder, so there's no question what happened. What price did President Bush make Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pay for allowing such a heinous crime to go unpunished? He forced him to accept a $10 billion dollar check in military aid just weeks later. Two years later there has still been no serious investigation of what happened by either the Israelis or by our own government.

But what makes our nation immoral was that this inaction was perfectly acceptable to the people of the United States. It was okay because these two young women were outside of the political mainstream. In the eyes of the nation they weren't worth defending. While the Italian people took to the streets in the hundreds of thousands (giving Berusconi little choice), we sat in front of our TV's clucking our tongues along with the talking heads claiming they got what they deserved.

Posted: Mon - March 7, 2005 at 10:13 PM          

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