Is the US uniquely evil?

Question

Five US Marines in Iraq to supposedly "liberate" the country notice a pretty young Iraqi woman on their regular patrols, in the town of Mahmoudiyah. One day, when they have the opportunity, they decide to rape this woman. So they do it. They brutally gang rape her in her own home. They then murder her and her entire family, including her husband and young child, before burning her body. And then they carry on with their patrol.

This is the latest atrocity committed by US troops in Iraq. Is the US uniquely evil? Is there something unique about the US culture that can breed such sadistically sick and cruel men? Or is evil equally distributed between the US and other groups and nations?

Answer 1

was this sort of on, sort of not on, the news tonight? All I saw was them talking about an "incident" and not saying what it was.

What you describe is a horrific crime and brings shame on those men's families, combrades, country, and flag. But the answer to the question is that everyone is capable of their very own acts of evil.

The question here may be partly one of respect. If you think you're part of the best nation on earth, what is everyone else? If you can dehumanise the "others", regarding them as less than you, you can justify anything. That is not a uniquely American problem - aggressor nations very often commit horrible violations, with attitudes like that never far away from the action.

But it's also about self-respect. If that were you doing that, could you look yourself in the eye afterwards? Of course not. So how can they? People who have pride in their good qualities are less likely to descend to such horrible depths.

Not much of an answer, more of just a train of thought. Not much shocks me these days, but that does. If I believed in hell, I reckon I would believe in it for that.

Answer 2

Honestly? It's not the US. It's not any country's fault, in fact -- war is a very unique and difficult experience for anyone. A great deal of what happens during wartime is horrific, and the people who commit the atrocities don't (at the time) necessarily realize how evil the act they're committing is, or don't feel like they have a choice.

WAR is to blame. Germany committed atrocities. The US committed atrocities. Iraq committed atrocities. Every country that goes to war eventually commits atrocities if the war lasts long enough, even if they're only defending themselves. Whenever countries are at war, atrocities are committed, and if you think your country is the only one that doesn't do it -- you're just plain wrong.

Here's the worst part: saying things like "the US is evil" or "Germany is evil" or "[any country, group, whatever] is evil" does two things -- it turns the enemy into a symbolic target to pin all blame on ("oh, if only we could get rid of [country], the world would be at peace!") and it dehumanizes the very real and very much like you people that live in "that" other country.

Is war evil? Yep. Is the war machine that industrialized nations (well, some) maintain evil? Yep. Are individuals -- often in positions of power -- evil? Oh, yeah.

Is a country -- literally, every single person who lives within a specific geographical boundary -- evil? No.

Answer 3

OK now for the facts. First of all that is the accusation it has not been proven in a court of law and therefore these men are innocent until proven guilty (I found that in this little known document called the Constitution, it was a good read you should try it.)

The second fact is that the men accused. . .Yes there's that word again accused not guilty. . .have been arrested and are awaiting a trial wow imagine that they get a trial before we start to call them evil. . .and if they are found guilty then they will be punished.

The hate America crowd makes me sick! Never mind the fact that Saddam had rooms dedicated to rape and murder. . .Never mind what they did to the two servicemen who's bodies were desecrated and beheaded! If America is evil then get the hell out!

Answer 4

Yes.

But don't worry about it. Sodom and Gommorrah ( sp ) was too.

I'm not looking at the war thing you wrote. Just the question. Why. Because. People like yourself go on at length about this.

You never talk about what's going on here, inside the country, which is infinitely more ghastly, ghoulish, deeply evil, and mitigates what you're talking about up there. I don't rely on liberals to say anything.

They're barefaced liars and cowards anyway. Wars are straightforward punishments usually visited on evil peoples. Whoever they might be from a clean, pure, holy source.

So long as those peoples carry on unmindful, so do wars. There'll be a lot of flag waving going on soon. Not one will say, if they ever got back from a war in one piece what it was that had mercy on them and allowed them to return alive. That's supreme arrogance.

Uniquely evil. But not for long.

Answer 5

I really think it is a load of crap for anyone to say Americans as a nation are evil. We all have our own problem with many of the things they do but to suggest they are evil using an untested argument is suggestive of a person who will never find any good in them. If I had any wish for Americans it would be that they make a genuine effort to understand and involve other Nationalities in World affairs as they often give the impression of being exclusively interested in matters within their own country. I would rather be friends with the Yanks than many of those other tossers in the Middle East and Africa.

Answer 6

The first thing the U.S. did in the latest adventure was to make a pre-emptive strike against a country of 26 million people for, what it appears, purely personal reasons of the president. Then we have Guantanamo prison -where people , civilian as well as military are held incognito and without warrants and no charges against them.which is contrary to the what were civilized rules of warfare--if war can be called and act of the civilized. The this gov't. refused to join the rest of most of the world in the World Court of Justice because they fear that their military personnel could be prosecuted for crimes against people during a time of war. In doing some of these things there are in violation of the Hague and Geneva conventions to which they are a signatory. And they have the gall to tell other countries that they are members of an axis of evil.

Answer 7

Even if your theory proves true (which I think unlikely), you must realize that there will always be evil in the world no matter what race or nation you are talking about. And if you compare the alleged actions of a few US soldiers with the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein, Al qaeda, the Taliban and the other dictatorial governments in the middle east, they pale in comparison.

Answer 8

Do you know what disingenuous means? Because that's what your question is. Is rape and murder a horrifying act of cruelty? Of course it is. Do American soldiers have a monopoly on cruelty? Gee. Do you really want to examine that? Would you perhaps like a LIST of the atrocities performed on innocents by various nations and people throughout history? Shall I regale you with accounts of Iraqi militants burning their fellow Iraqi's alive or torturing them before cutting off their heads? How about Pakistanis gang-raping a woman because her BROTHER slept with a married woman? How about chopping a woman to pieces with a machete because she testified against the husband who beat her?

Are you uniquely stupid? Or simply uniquely dishonest? Or perhaps you see things only from one limited viewpoint and are truly ignorant of everything else that goes on?

Answer 9

First, could you please site your source for this story. Never heard it and I keep up on stories like this.
Second, do you live in a vacuum where all you hear is negative American stories? There were men BEHEADED on the news, these men were trying to rebuild Iraq,most of them weren't even American. Neither were the people slicing their heads off.

I'd say you can stop using the word "unique" when referring to the concept of sadistically sick and cruel, when speaking of any event that took place after the Inquisition and Holocaust.

Answer 10

You really think this just goes on with our troops? You must be naive or very young. Although I don't approve of what has happened, what do think would be done to one of our women if the insurgents got ahold of her. Look what they did to the two soldiers just found dead. When was the last time you saw one of our leaders chopping off someones head and bragging about it. So no I don't think the US is uniquely evil. There is evil everywhere. Look what is going on in Darfur. Wake up. People are so quick to jump on things like this. We are supposed to be so bad yet the world goes into shock when something like this happens.