Proud to be an American

I thought nothing could make me prouder to be an American than the Iraq war, where America really and truly showed the world what it was capable of. We destroyed a country, spent two to three trillion dollars, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, caused 4000 American deaths and tens of thousands of physical and mental injuries to the young adults of America, displaced more than five million Iraqis, completely de-stabilized the most politically unstable and explosive region in the world --and it was all done for no purpose than anyone has been able to discern. They only people who know for sure, those who ordered the war, are so disgraced and discredited as to be unbelievable.

But I was wrong! There is something to be even more proud of.

And that is the way the compassionate citizens of the US are opening their arms to the waves of children coming from Central America. In the violence- and war-torn countries of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and environs, desperate parents are doing the only thing possible to save the lives of their children: send them north. Conditions in their own countries are so horrible that parents would rather say goodbye to their children--likely forever--than to have them stay at home and deal with rape, murder, slavery, executions, corruption and violence at all scales. And like the great and wealthy nation we are, and reflecting deeply held American values, we mount protests against these despicable creatures trying to take advantage of us. How could this nation of 310 million people possible absorb a few tens of thousands of desperate immigrant children? Why don't they go somewhere else? It's not our problem. Put them back where they came from. Somebody send the pool boy down to chase them outta here.

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This is part of the continuing series, "American Values in the 21st Century."

PS. Decades of US funding for right-wing paramilitary groups in Central America and supporting right-wing military strongmen while ignoring their consistent human rights abuses, plus providing the incentive (drug habits) for the drug cartels to become so powerful they now challenge the governmets of Mexico and various Central American countries, does not--I repeat, NOT--make the US in any way responsible for the atrocious conditions on the ground in these countries. America is great, strong, righteous, pure and always victorious!