{"id":58839,"date":"2026-04-07T07:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=58839"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:49:05","slug":"americas-moral-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=58839","title":{"rendered":"

AMERICA\u2019S MORAL SUICIDE<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>"},"content":{"rendered":"
The United States \u2013 the cynosure of Western society – has committed moral suicide in Gaza; the death certificate issued in Iran.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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Collective suicide always is an ugly business to observe \u2013 especially when it\u2019s your own country debasing itself. Yet, we seem unfazed. Indeed, we redouble our acts of inhumanity as if reiteration somehow normalizes the perversity of what we have done. The systematic insulation of ourselves from the magnitude of our turpitude is all the more remarkable for its requiring the constant filtering of graphic images of odious criminality to which we are accomplices. There may be some faint recognition, subliminally, of our culpability in the diligence with which dissenters and truth-tellers are suppressed and punished. That repression, an insult to our supposedly hallowed civic principles, is the most immediate price Western societies are paying for this depravity. Other baneful consequences will register down the road. For the disconcerting truth is that the majority of the world sees our sins for what they are, and scorns out gross hypocrisy.<\/b><\/div>\n
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This historic self-mutilation is unique \u2013 in two respects. First, It was not provoked by great trauma, humiliation or defeat in some high stakes gamble. Second, the act was not in one neat stroke; rather, the deed was accomplished through a succession of deliberate decisions by three American Presidents:\u00a0 Obama, Trump and Biden. The first provided the precursor in Yemen where the United States was an accomplice in the Saudi-led slaughter of Houthis \u2013 a gratuitous collaboration where the sole American justification was a desire to curry favor with the mercurial MBS.<\/b><\/div>\n
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[The Yemen tragedy is discussed in an earlier commentary – attached. Also attached are two other essays that offer a finer grained analysis and critique of the Israeli-American genocidal war on the Palestinians. Hence, this essay does not dwell on the particulars of either]<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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ETHICS & FOREIGN POLICY<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Morality and international politics do not mix easily. For good reason. War is the distinguishing trait of relations among states. And war is all about killing and maiming other human beings. Of course, war is episodic rather than continuous. But the ubiquity of conflict situations remains the hallmark of inter-state relations. Violence is omnipresent \u2013 in mind if not in act.<\/b><\/div>\n
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Yet, we are creatures who have an innate ethical sense \u2013 genetic rather than conceptual, albeit we also have the innate capacity to harm others. First, it derives from our awareness that survival as a species in competition with other species conveys a basic solidarity even as we contest with other humans \u2013 at times violently. Second, every organized society develops a code of conduct that proscribes a range of disruptive actions: violent attacks foremost among them. In effect, they extend the instincts\/logic of family or tribal identity to an abstract grouping \u2013 covering a considerable genetic range. Social morality in concept and doctrine derives from those elementary facts of collective life.<\/b><\/div>\n
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At the international level, there is no equivalent authoritative government, organized society or \u2013 above all \u2013 communal sentiment. Hence, the logic of realpolitik predominates. It is structurally determined whatever the proximate reasons for any particular war might be. Still, war as much as peace at any given time is a function of circumstances. War is a social phenomenon \u2013 not the expression of humans\u2019 innate penchant for violent combat. The international disorder is not tantamount to a state of anarchy; violent encounters does not occur in the manner of collisions among billiard balls after the break.<\/b><\/div>\n
So, how does morality\/ethics enter into the picture?<\/div>\n
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1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The moral standard applicable to political affairs is different from that applicable to individual behavior. The latter entails ultimate ends and abstract norms. The former gives place only to an \u201cethic of responsibility\u201d \u2013 as Max Weber explained. No Ten Commandments or their counterpart in other religious traditions exists as an appropriate benchmark for appraising good or bad conduct. \u2013 certainly not of the collectivities (states) which are the protagonists<\/div>\n
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2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Violent actions taken against other societies usually are felt as requiring a justification. Not always, of course. At the extreme, there were the Huns, the Mongols, Timur, the Nazis who launched wars and committed atrocities because they felt like it or for self-glorification. For others, conquest was its own justification. Implicit in imperial expansion has stemmed from the notion that superiority itself endows conquest with rightness. For still others, the flame of ideology \u2013 religious zealotry, ethnic\/tribal passionate nationalism –\u00a0 incites organized violence aimed at propagation of the TRUTH<\/i>\u00a0or to fulfill DESTINY.<\/i><\/div>\n
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3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The more autocratic the ruler, the less accountable he or she is, the less need there is for justification. Therefore, the spread of literacy and the heightening of awareness among the mass (or some substantial segment of it) makes legitimation increasingly important. Popular democracy made it an imperative.<\/div>\n
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4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That need has proven less of a hindrance to war-making than Kant, among others, presumed. However, justification of war does, as a consequence, draw upon some moral imagery. Where necessity is less than self-evident, i.e. where defense of the native territory is not at issue, warring needs to be legitimated as \u2018right.\u2019<\/div>\n
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5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A closely related, even more acute requirement, is to pursue war in a manner that conforms toa society\u2019s generalized ethical standards. That has several aspects. There should be a persuasive explanation of why the country has to go to war \u2013 that is one. Non-violent means of resolving the underlying conflicts should be pursued until proven futile \u2013 that is two. The minimum requisite force should be used \u2013 that is three.\u00a0 Enemy troops should be treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Convention and norms of the society \u2013 that is four. Non-combatants (civilians) should be spared the dangers of combat whenever reasonably possible. That is five.<\/b><\/div>\n
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6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here is where the question of war and morality gets interesting. For most of history, wars were fought between armies composed of warrior castes, \u2018professionals\u2019 and volunteers. They were limited in space and time. Battles were intermittent. Civilians suffered mainly from two causes: the disruption of normal civil life, and plunder. That changed with the advent of total war wherein the resources of entire societies (human and economic) were mobilized to fight prolonged wars. The inner logic of that circumstance made production sites and whole cities targets. Airplanes created the means to attack them on a massive scale. Thus: Rotterdam, Coventry, Hamburg, Dresden, the fire-bombing of Tokyo and ultimately Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There was not any appreciable moral outrage about the resulting indiscriminate murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians.\u00a0 Total war itself implied the highest stakes; therefore, everything goes.<\/div>\n
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7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The experience of World War II did not bury the idea that there were \u2018civilized\u2019 standards of war which should be observed. The United States and other Western countries, in particular, continued to enunciate principles that forbade the committing of atrocities against individual civilians or defenseless prisoners. That code presumes that an identifiable soldier is in a position to decide whether or not to harm a vulnerable individual on the other side. In modern war, however, the \u2018other side\u2019 most often is not visible and the individual on our side does not have much discretion over how to act. Where those conditions do not obtain, ethical rules can still be applied: e.g. in the wake of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam – however belatedly. Admittedly, many atrocities are not acknowledged or they are covered-up. (By the way, the officer who composed the first draft of the initial My Lai whitewash for the U.S. Army was then Major Colin Powell \u2013 he of \u2018aluminum tubes\u2019 infamy)<\/div>\n
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8. Overall, <\/b>there has been a loosening of ethical standards and less inclination to enforce them. That trend, in the U.S., was been greatly accentuated by the War On Terror. It has something to do with the level of emotion (the thirst for revenge in the wake of 9\/11), the nature of counter-insurgency warfare, a heightened sense of vulnerability, the end of the draft and the professionalization of the armed forces, the widespread use of poorly controlled \u201ccontractors\u201d i.e. mercenaries, an inattentive public absorbed with their private lives. Torture was declared the official policy of the United States government and ordered from the White House. It was widely carried out not just at Guantanamo and the \u2018black sites\u2019 but in the field as well albeit with far less attention. Round-ups and detention of suspect populations were commonplace in Afghanistan. They again were done in Iraq, and in Syria by our local allies with American backing. Abuse of civilians in \u2018search-and-capture\/destroy\u2019 missions have been frequent and remained so in Afghanistan until the very end.<\/div>\n
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9.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most serious are the enormous civilian casualties caused by American airstrikes and artillery barrages. Some, those resulting from attacks on compounds or groups of persons by drones and planes acting blindly or at the request of local parties with their own agenda (the Kunduz hospital massacre), are specific enough to involve individual victims and individual perpetrators. Not a single one has been identified and held accountable. Far more consequential are the attacks on population centers a la WW II.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/b>The initial assault on Iraq, \u201cShock & Awe,\u201d killed thousands of Iraqis. The 2004 \u2018liberation\u2019 of Falluja killed an estimated few hundreds. (Leaving aside wounded in both cases). The \u2018liberation\u2019 of Mosul and Raqqa entailed massive firepower. 50,000 bombs or artillery shells landed on Raqqa alone. 90% of the city\u2019s buildings were destroyed. No water, no electricity, little food. Untold thousands died as a direct result. Estimates by neutral, knowledgeable sources suggest deaths upwards of 10,000 to 20,000. Many buried in the rubble, as in Gaza. The United States government denies these figures; its long delayed, ever-changing number is fewer than 500. One per every 100 shells or 500-pound bombs. These are lies, of course \u2013 calculated lies.<\/div>\n
Then came Yemen, a pitstop on the way to the Hell of Gaza. There, estimates by reliable international bodies put casualties on a rough par, if not greater, with those in Palestine.<\/b><\/div>\n
[Tally<\/b><\/div>\n
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–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deaths: 380,000 UN Estimate<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 70% children under 5 (275,000)<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 150,000+ from violence (2014\u20132021) UN<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 85,000 children died from starvation (2015\u20132018) Save the Children<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2.3 million children acutely malnourished and nearly 400,000 children under five at imminent risk of death. (2016\u20132021) [1] UNICEF, WHO<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00b724.600+ killed by air raids<\/div>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4 million people (1.4 mil. Children) cumulatively displaced (2015\u20132020)]<\/div>\n
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10.<\/b>\u00a0The discrepancy between the nominal dedication to observing humane standards of war, on the one hand, and the realities of methods, arms, and aims, on the other, has made lying, deception and hypocrisy the norm. Self-interested parties accept that. The public sublimates it. The racists and neo-Fascists who go berserk at Trump rallies celebrate it.<\/div>\n
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11.\u00a0 Militant Evangelical Christians \u2013 who compose a significant segment of the MAGA movement, and exert influence across the political spectrum \u2013 are particularly exposed to criticism that their avowed religious principles are at war with their bellicose promotion of violent actions. It stems directly from the contradiction between the pronouncements of Jesus and the realities of the profane world.\u00a0 They are among the most bellicose, unstinting supporters of Israel and all its misdeeds. For most, it is the Book of Revelation<\/i>, authored by the bizarre John of Patmos \u2013 the Christian Jew fleeing Roman authorities in Jerusalem after suppression of the great revolt, that is their moral guide. He painted is grotesque forms the Armageddon when Jesus returns to pass final judgement. He offered no date but set a crucial precondition: the Jewish people would reoccupy the lands of Moses. Then, they \u2013 and the rest of humanity\u2013 would be presented with a last chance to pronounce their belief in Jesus the Saviour and Son of God. That is why so many of the Christian fundamentalists are such fervent supporters of Israel no matter how odious their acts in treating the Palestinians in disregard of Jesus\u2019 teaching and simple human decency.1<\/div>\n
This creed derives from Augustine\u2019s sophistic formulation of Christian ethics:<\/i><\/div>\n
“What is here required is not a bodily action, but an inward disposition. The sacred seat of virtue is the heart.”<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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Hence, a faithful Christian, pure of heart, can kill and main at will while remaining in a \u2018state of Grace,\u201d if the end ivirtuous and betters the condition of the Christian community or the Church that guides\/protects it. In short, it is wrong to a run a sword through your neighbor for denting your car with his lawnmower, but it\u2019s okay to \u201cpraise the Lord and pass the ammunition.\u201d It\u2019s a formulation that, for nearly 2,000 years, has well served both\u00a0 heads of\u00a0 state and the institution that claims to carry forth the revelation of a Prophet who preached against it.<\/div>\n
[Augustine asserted that peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could only be stopped by violence would be a sin<\/i>.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Defense of oneself or others could be a necessity, especially when authorized by a legitimate authority (the Church and those secular powers it has blessed) They who have waged war in obedience to the Divine command, or in conformity with His laws, have represented in their persons the public justice or the wisdom of government, and in this capacity have put to death wicked men; such persons have by no means violated the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.<\/i><\/div>\n
\u00a0While not breaking down the conditions necessary for war to be just, Augustine nonetheless originated the very phrase itself in his work <\/i>The City of God<\/i><\/a>: Augustine\u2019s sophistry should be understood in the context of his time and circumstances (circa 400 AD) when the Christian Church, now the official religion of the Roman Empire, engaged in a struggle to establish total dominion by snuffing out all non-believers: the Gnostics above all, the pagan sects, and the stubbornly skeptical Hebrews].1<\/i><\/div>\n
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12. The remorseless 8-year Saudi bombing of the Houthis of Yemen that turned the country into a literal shooting gallery could not have happen without the direct, tangible participation of the Pentagon. Americans flew the refueling planes without which the Saudi air force could not reach their targets on two-way missions.\u00a0 The Obama government provided the detailed electronic Intelligence critical to the mission. American military personnel sat in the very command rooms from which the operations were conducted. In addition, Washington provided unqualified diplomatic cover and justification. This policy was inaugurated by Barack Obama, continued by Trump \u2013 and then reaffirmed by Joe Biden. In legal terms, we are an accessory before, during and after the fact of the Saudi crimes in Yemen.<\/b><\/div>\n
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<\/a>13.\u00a0\u00a0The United States shares with Israel the dishonor of resurrecting the ancient practice of killing the enemy\u2019s leader \u2013 often in the guise of an invitation to a sit-down with the Kushner-Witkoff tandem or a Jerusalem vetted \u201cmediator.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDecapitation\u201d by various means in various circumstances has been integral to our program of drone killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Mali and other countries \u2013 thereby, going a long way toward establishing the de facto<\/i>\u00a0legitimacy of extra-judicial murder as a standard foreign policy tactic<\/b>.<\/div>\n
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[In the United States, it is accepted as such. Indeed, it is praised by many commandos of the War On Terror as Obama\u2019s one worthy contribution to the WOT since it risks no U.S. casualties \u2013 thereby, making prosecution of the War more palatable to the public. Targeted assassination is now in the playbook. The Israelis inaugurated it, brought to an unprecedented level and refined it; we emulate the Israelis e.g. the CIA attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin by drones programmed and guided by American officers. others will follow. Our influence in setting fashions, including placing the American seal of approval on Israel\u2019s depredations, means that inhibition will weaken most everywhere and the range of individuals targeted will expand.\u00a0 Hence, Iran Lebanon and Syria.]<\/i><\/div>\n
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T<\/i>he practice of knocking-off the enemy\u2019s chief has deep historical roots. In the age of kings and emperors, it was tempting to think of decapitating the opposition. Normally, it was a vain hope, though. They were out of reach. Also, there was always some inhibition since the prospect of retaliation in kind was unappealing. There was opportunity when a valiant leader took the field at the head of his troops \u2013 as did Alexander as well as several others. The annals are replete with tales of armies breaking and running when their champion was killed or incapacitated. In modern warfare, it is generally felt that no one leader is indispensable \u2013 certainly not generals. Think of Afghanistan, where the parade of American commanders numbered 18, not due to attrition but rather to an odd ritual of rotation. Anyway, it has been a totally irrelevant factor \u2013 like whoever manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.\u00a0 Robots would have done as well \u2013 or as badly. (In WW II, political leaders of extraordinary stature could make a difference: Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill \u2013 so did generals, especially German and Soviet commanders. 2<\/div>\n
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America\u2019s <\/i>moral compass works in odd and mysterious ways. The ultimate paradox: were our paleolithic ancestors transported into the present, they would be amazed not only by our technological marvels and material abundance; they also would be amazed by the ease with which we murder each other\u00a0en masse.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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14. Morality still counts for the American public \u2013 or, at least, the appearance of morality.<\/i><\/b> It does even as the country has committed to playing the game of power politics most everybody else does, even as it has committed to a strategy of global dominance \u2013 by means violent and coercive as well as pacific. They remain wedded to the belief that we are a moral people who compose a moral nation which follows the course of righteousness in the world. \u201cWhen conquer we must, for our cause it is just; let this be our motto: In God is our trust<\/i>.\u201d Some acknowledge a few minor deviations; most do not go even that far. Hiroshima\/Nagasaki? \u201cWe had no choice \u2013 it was them or us (hundreds of thousands G.I. casualties on the Honshu plain)\u201d. Vietnam? Erase it from the national memory book.\u00a0 The illegal invasion of Iraq? 9\/11 or \u201cwe were misinformed.\u201d\u00a0 Guantanamo? Torture? \u2018We have to protect ourselves.\u2019 Raqqa? \u201cWho\u2019s he?\u201d Yemen genocide? \u201cWasn\u2019t the Boston bombing also genocide?\u201d Imperialism? \u2018We\u2019re surrounded by enemies trying to do us in: Russia, Iran, North Korea, China, Venezuela, Pakistan, Mexico, Honduras\u2019 (check your daily news source for fresh additions to the list).\u2019<\/b><\/div>\n
GAZA: <\/i>ultimate destination point of a coarsening of sensibilities about others, the recrudescence of rude racism, the depersonalization of warfare, and the corruption and mindlessness of leaders who allow themselves to act as the enablers and instruments of frenzied fanatics who find inspiration for pure evil in the most grisly pages of the Old Testament.<\/b><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u201c<\/i>Indeed the idols I have loved so long;<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Have done my record in men\u2019s eyes much wrong,<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Have drowned my honor in a shallow cup,<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
And sold my reputation for a song\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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1.Christ\u2019s admonition to \u201crender\u00a0unto\u00a0Caesar\u00a0the things that are\u00a0Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 (Matthew 22:15-22)\u00a0had been predicated on the belief that the Day of Judgment was on the horizon. Its indefinite postponement left Christians in a quandary. The message of harmony and peace leading to eternal redemption could only be reconciled with war and violence by ingenious semantic gymnastics. It took four centuries for the nimble mind of Augustine to come up with the formula we call <\/i>\u201cjust war theory.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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The popular, conventional interpretation is that \u201che believed that\u00a0the only just reason to go to war was the desire for peace. We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u2013 <\/i>come to Jesus.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0In effect a recasting of Augustine as Woodrow Wilson. Its fuller meanings provide the basis for Christian rulers, and the Church itself, to distance themselves from Christ\u2019s preaching while preserving an untroubled conscience.<\/i><\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Augustine<\/i><\/a>\u00a0held that, while individuals should not resort immediately to violence, God has given the sword to government for good reason (based upon Romans 13:4). In\u00a0Contra Faustum Manichaeum\u00a0book 22 sections 69\u201376, Augustine argues that Christians, as part of a government, need not be ashamed of protecting peace and punishing wickedness when forced to do so by a government. Augustine asserted that this was a personal, philosophical statement.<\/i><\/div>\n
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2.. Multiple assassinations as a method for thinning the enemies\u2019 leadership ranks is something new. This novel notion has emerged from the endless cogitations on how to suppress insurgent movements, especially jihadist ones of the Islamic persuasion. Its net effectiveness is unmeasurable to date. It is fair to say that never before in the annals of warfare has a fighting force been found to have so many (nominal) commanders and sub-commanders, treasurers and propaganda chiefs as recorded on kill lists.<\/i><\/div>\n
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MICHAEL\u00a0 \u00a0BRENNER<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States \u2013 the cynosure of Western society – has committed moral suicide in Gaza; the death certificate issued in Iran. \u00a0 Collective suicide always is an ugly business to observe \u2013 especially when it\u2019s your own country debasing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58839"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58844,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58839\/revisions\/58844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}