Lying and/or effacing the truth is the habit that’s ensconced in the system
U.S. officials have a very bad habit, a disgusting habit, an evil habit, of looking the other way whenever they encounter morally objectionable aspects of their own policies.
They beat around the bush. They make every attempt to soft-pedal realities that reflect badly on their hidden aims. They sugarcoat. They bring in irrelevant talking points.
The last thing they will ever do is to tell the truth. They adamantly refuse to speak truth bluntly. Has Washington ever spoken truth about this country’s health care system? Or surveillance? Or about police brutality? Or about global warming?
When the U.S. does something morally wrong, its officials will do everything in their power to avoid an admission of guilt or responsibility. Forced into a corner, they will make some sort of statement and seek to avoid any public hearings, investigations or changes in their policies.
Instead, they’ll recommend changes that prolong or even exacerbate the issues brought to their attention.
Washington knows full well the torture regime it created, but has largely swept it under the rug, failing to fix responsibility or take institutional measures to stop it from recurring; and failing to make it a visible public issue.
Washington knows its drones kill far more innocent civilians than known criminals, but it looks the other way. Indeed, it congratulates itself on having found a more humane form of warfare.
Washington knows that Ukraine is bankrupt, that it has enormous corruption and that neo-Nazi thugs infest the politics and the military forces; but it looks the other way. Instead, it makes up stories about Ukraine’s “needs”.
Questioned by Congressman Rohrabacker, Victoria Nuland does everything in her power to downplay the role of neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Her performance under questioning is a perfect example of looking the other way.
Washington knows full well the complete story of its evil attack on Iraq, of the propaganda campaign that preceded it, and of its immense blunders thereafter. But it looks the other way, in the same fashion that Secretary Albright looked the other way concerning the dead children brought about by U.S. sanctions.
Washington knows full well that its entry into Libya was a major blunder, but there is no acknowledgement of this. It looks the other way.
Washington knows that it has brought about ISIS directly and indirectly. It will not face this, admit it, and own up to it. In fact, it renews its failed Syrian policies.
When Washington does make blunt statements and concoct effective slogans, watch out. They are far more likely to be lies, spin and propaganda than truths.
Washington is the enemy of truth when it comes to its own policies ever being evaluated on moral grounds simply because both its ends and its means are so often and in so many important cases fundamentally immoral and fundamentally flawed.
To be fair, Washington is divided.
To some extent, one part of it sometimes hits on the truth while another covers up.
But truth-telling is not a systematic feature of government. It is not built into its institutions with effective monitoring and sanctions.
Lying and/or effacing the truth is the habit that’s ensconced in the system. Hard-hitting Congressional hearings have fallen into disrepair.
The vitality of mainstream media in overcoming Washington’s capacity to look the other way has proven very limited. The MSM is not much more at present than a transmission belt for whatever stories government officials put out.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/u-s-officials-look-the-other-way/