Help me understand this logic. The American state has done things that are horrendous in the name of national security and the fact that we have done those things means that we can do those things again if the American state feels its national security is threatened. That appears to be a fair gist. If not, let me know.

Eric, you do not have to be called a bad name. You have stated the "dirty little secret" that our leaders try to keep us good old Americans from knowing. It is the dirty little secret that the elite insiders are allowed to be privy too. Thanks for opening this up for plebeians out here in the boonies.

But it would seem fairly evident that this American state can also state rules for itself or accept international rules that say that certain behaviors by the American state or other states are beyond the pall (pale? sorry not enough coffee today). And when the American state in its national security calculus goes beyond such a rule, whatever the reason, it is breaching a rule that it accepted to be bound by. I can hear the, "so what?". And the answer to the so what is - some of us (domestically and internationally) care about that rule and its breach.

It would seem to me then the question is whether, the rest of the world and Americans internally, can look at what Eric calls the American hypocrisy and go along or object. I tend to describe that as acquiesce in the hypocrisy or resist the hybpocrisy.

Well it seems that any state can do what Eric has said is the American hypocrisy - just a question of the tools at the state's disposal. America can weigh in on that other state and the people of that other state can weigh in on their government.

And since the American state is run by people it comes down to whether we end up considering them heroes or villains - whether other states and ourselves we weigh in on the leaders of our American state. If we consider our leaders are villains, then we make them pay for that villainy.

Now, even when they hold the levers of power, the effort is to resist them, to show their hypocrisy, to show their use of the naked power that Eric descrbes so aptly and to suggest that there may be a little madness going on here. Then we might understand that national security does not have to go hand in hand with atrocity.

Best,

Ben