A quote from a story on Abu Ghraib at CBS News' site:

"The elixir of power, the elixir of believing that you're helping the CIA, for God's sake, when you're from a small town in Virginia, that's intoxicating,” says [Sgt. Chip Frederick's attorney Gary] Myers. “And so, good guys sometimes do things believing that they are being of assistance and helping people they view as important."

It's interesting what happens to this quote if you replace the words "CIA" and "Virginia" with, say, German equivalents circa 1933, and then while you're still feeling that anger, quickly re-replace with "America." I remember how self-righteous history students can get during the 1940s chapter when the "but how could the people just let that happen?" question inevitably comes up. I remember how every member of the class would either shake their head in disbelief and say, "If I were there, I would never have gone along with it," or would say nothing and only look very thoughtful and sad. Whether you take this quote as the genuine naivety of a hapless government pawn, or as an example of the twisted blame-shifting characteristic of modern American culture, either way, it's horrifying.

Comments

[jarred]

I was saying something similiar on my own blog a few entries ago(may 5). I wonder if this is more glaringly obvious when one is looking in from outside the borders of the US.