Bad Guys Are Us

Old Knudsen has a lot to say and often he just forgets things until someone else says it then he gets to think about it more all over again.
I watched this clip online last week that had a CIA chick talking about terrorism. She said that if she has learned one thing it's that everyone believes they are the good guys.

It's a matter of perspective. One man's hero is another man's freedom fighter. Che Guevara was a cold blooded executioner but it doesn't stop students from wearing the t-shirts. Nelson Mandela was in prison for plotting to blow people up. Remember those reports of burning tyres around people's necks? That was the ANC who had Gaddafi as one of its big donors. 
Mandela never renounced violence and said it was some times the only way but if you look him up online you'll read about how he bravely stood up to the cruel government, not about killing women and children.   

The British army in Northern Ireland were the good guys ..... well not really but neither were the IRA. When I patrolled the streets with my Stars Wars gun (as seen in the photo) I was fighting against terrorists that blew up innocent people. What separated us soldiers from the terrorists is that we don't wake up and think about blowing up a busy unsuspecting street or pub yet many see us as the oppressor and we were to a point.

Many of the British army's actions weren't just, we often became as bad as the terrorists we fought. Being the government we were the good guys. Like the CIA chick says, everyone believes they are the good guys, even the Nazis thought that God was on their side.

She said if you look at movies like the Hunger games, Independence day and Star Wars you'll see a small group of plucky rebels fighting against a superior force doing whatever it takes to win. Some Al-Qaeda guy said that they are the rebels, the heroes, they are Han and Luke. 

It's true, look at Red Dawn, 300 and the Terminator movies to name just a few more. TV shows like Falling Skies, V and Firefly. They sometimes talk about how righteous they are and how God is with them as they fight for freedom against evil facing overwhelming odds. 

Heroes don't set the fire then rush in to the building to save people.

To the Iraqis that were invaded by the US after 9/11 for no reason at all the US is the bad guy, the invading force. 
It has gotten to the point that the US has fucked up their cuntry so much now that they fear the US will leave them to it like they did in 1991 which resulted in executions so now they are enlisting the help of the Iranians. The ancient enemy of the Americans .... who are of course allies with the Russians. 

Imagine not trusting the Americans so much that their former enemy in war the Iranians sound good. If only the Native Americans knew the Iranians formerly known as Persians.       

To Americans the US didn't invade anyone, they are fighting the enemy there so they don't have to fight them on the US. 
Yeah that is a load of bullshit. Iraq and Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 and didn't have weapons of mass destruction but we went in anyways because we're good and just. That right there made 10 times the amount of enemies we had. Invading Iraq and Afghanistan made generations of enemies for us to fight. 

The drone strikes makes enemies where there weren't any before too. If you kill a child's family in collateral damage because a suspect (who had not committed any acts of terrorism) stopped by to see his cousin that owed him a couple of goats then that child will grow up hating whoever sent that drone over. 
  

What we are told doesn't match up to reality.

In reality you aren't really innocent until found guilty. If Edward Snowden returned to the US he'd spend the rest of his life in prison, not for treason but because he showed the American people the government was illegally spying upon them and he broke his employment contract. Do the majority of Americans support him? no, because they somehow think the government are still the good guys because hey he's in Russia now and it's 'we the people.'    

The government represents us so they have to be the good guys huh, we couldn't be the bad guys, that's them not us.

Invading Iraq and Afghanistan to attack terrorists was plain stupid, they aren't a standing army. Terrorists thrive by blending in with the people. They use innocents as shields and look just like the average citizen. The US under Bush said whatever government shielded terrorists would be attacked, it didn't matter what the government said in response, if they didn't have nukes they were a weak enough target for the US to invade.

I didn't see them invading Pakistan did you? That's where Osama was found living and that is where Al-Qaeda have free reign .... but Pakistan has nukes. Makes you think there might be other motives and that the US is quite the bully. 
The nerve of Americans and even Prince Charles comparing Putin to Hitler because of Ukraine. He didn't do anything the US and its allies hadn't done.

 Real men don't pick flowers they pick body bags.

It takes more courage to talk peace than to launch drones and tactical units. Peace with terrorists only comes with dialogue because you can't kill ideologies. Peace with the IRA and the ANC came with dialogue, sure some people you can't talk peace with but there are always ones that will as long as you and they are open to compromise and to listen. 

While there are foreign boots on the ground there will never be peace, there will be new enemies springing up to replace those worn down. Just don't kid yourself that you are the righteous good guy, that disingenuous attitude will never achieve peace anywhere.