Anti-American?

How is it that these days if you dare to suggest the United States is less than perfect you get accused of being anti-American? I believe there are many things the U.S. has done wrong in the past and there are many things we are doing wrong at the present time. I do not believe this makes me anti-American. I believe if American citizens do not speak out when they think their country is doing something wrong they are anti-American. For example, I believe our unwarranted and illegal attack on Iraq was absolutely wrong. The killing of hundreds of thousands, if not more innocent Iraqi civilians was (is) absolutely wrong. I believe our attempt to establish "empire" at the expense of the rest of the world is wrong. Torture is absolutely wrong and changing the definition of it does not make it either legal or right.

In any case I cannot imagine anyone more American than I am. Born in the U.S., raised in a small North Idaho town, educated at the University of Idaho and the University of Washington, served in the military for two years, employed by several different American Universities, lived in the U.S. for all of my life with the exception of some time in New Guinea and Germany (doing research for the Institutes of Health), and so on. With this background, and having traveled fairly widely around the world, I believe I have every right to an opinion about what my country has done and is doing. And some of the things it has done and is doing are in my opinion just plain wrong and harming many other people. I believe I understand empathy, and I feel it when other people are wronged. I do not believe the Russians, under Putin, are intrinsically evil, nor do I believe the Iranians are intrinsically evil. Bush/Cheney have not been treating them very well of late, and rather than trying to get along with them, are constantly trying to provoke them. I would prefer that Iran not develop a nuclear bomb but I do not find it at all difficult to understand why they would want one. I do not want another cold war with Russia but I think I understand why the Russians are upset with our tactics and are reacting as they are. There can be no hope for peace anywhere on this planet as long as warmongers and greedy profiteers like Bush/Cheney have any power. Indeed, I believe it is fair to say that the entire world is waiting for them to be gone. I resent being called anti-American and pro-Soviet. I am neither of those things. I simply believe in fair play and honesty, something that has been in perilous short supply, especially in the last seven years or so.

LKBIQ:
"At the core of all these aristocratic races the beast of prey is not to be mistaken, the magnificent blond beast, avidly rampant for spoil and victory."
Friedrich Nietzsche