I see D McDonaugh is still spouting the same historical innacuracies he did a month ago:

Nearly 200 Killed in Madrid Explosion topic
http://www.rkmbs.com/Number=251436

I recall having a discussion with Chant (arguably the sanest and most polite liberal on these boards) who was saying (in the "It's not about oil or Iraq..." topic a few pages back,
http://www.rkmbs.com/Number=239307 ) how he learned in school that the U.S. was "responsible" for the whole world getting nuclear weapons.
Whereas the truth is that Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel acquired nuclear weapons while allies of the U.S., who had/have good relations with the U.S., and were not pressured in any way to get nukes, they just wanted them.
And once again, it chills me to the bone what people are taught about the United States. All these countries were pursuing nukes on their own, independent of U.S. action. Only Russia could be said to have defensively pursued nukes because the U.S. did.

Time and again, it seems that, contrary to history, there is a tendency to heap blame for all that is wrong in the world on the United States.
And give little if any credit to the U.S. for what it has done right.

I'm certainly not blind to what the U.S. has done wrong, such as the slaughter of the American Indian (being part Cherokee), slavery, robber-barons of the industrial revolution, Klan activity from 1865-1965, CIA coups in the Middle East and Central/South America to create dictatorships friendly to the U.S. during the Cold War, misguided policy in Vietnam, misguided policy in pre-1979 Iran, pulling out of Beirut in 1983, supporting dictatorships in Nicaragua, in the Phillipines, and in Panama, abandoning the Kurds and Shi'ites to their slaughter in 1991, after encouraging them to rebellion, and many other military/diplomatic/humanitarian mis-steps.

But the U.S., for all its flaws, has arguably done more good and less evil than any government in history.

I'd just like to see the U.S. get a little credit for the good it's done.

There is plenty to legitimately criticize the United States for, without misrepresentative history and wild conspiracy theories.

And often in retrospective of history, regarding the many decisions the U.S. is endlessly brow-beaten over for not having made the right choice about, the truth is, there often isn't any right political choice. Just the least potentially damaging of several bad options.

Everyone looks to the U.S. for aid, leadership, and military action in a crisis. And then hates us for doing so.
Hated if we do, hated if we don't.

Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Panama ...and Iraq.

The U.S. provides huge amounts of aid to Russia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and others.
And more broad humanitarian/economic aid to virtually all third-world nations of Asia, Africa, and across Central and South America.

I'm not expecting grattitude voiced anytime soon. But a lot of people worldwide have benefitted from and appreciate American aid. They're just generally not as vocal.

I'm thinking in particular of William Stout's three-page story "Shoes", from of DC's benefit book, 9-11:VOLUME 1.

I hold the U.S. accountable for the mistakes it's made, and would like our government to make good in correcting those mistakes (and I think it often has).
But I'm also very proud of the good that the United States has done in the world. And continues to do, with or without appreciation.

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"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."