War Crimes...and Ultrarunning

Diane at Cab Drollery on 31 May nails the hypocrisy.  She first discusses the sentencing of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, by an international war crimes court, to 50 years in prison.  This for his conviction for "...supporting rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered and mutilated thousands during their country's brutal civil war in return for blood diamonds."

Imagine that: a guy is tried and convicted of war crimes for facilitating a war in another country in which hundreds of thousands are killed, maimed, raped for personal aggrandizement and increased wealth. And he will actually go to prison.

Of course, none of this has any relevance to our country. I mean, oil and rare earth minerals are different than diamonds, and crazy militias are different than mercenaries and private contractors with connections to the White House. Water boarding and forcing prisoners to stand naked for hours are totally unlike rape and the terrorizing of innocents. Furthermore, our new high tech weaponry is surgically precise, not like lopping off limbs indiscriminately, which is just savagery.

Most importantly, we are not Africans. We are Americans, the beacon of hope and freedom for the rest of the world.

Thank goodness we are looking forwards and not backwards, otherwise we'd have that whole pesky war crimes issue to deal with for high ranking members of the Bush regime.

Oh, and the link to Ultrarunning?  Again I have to point out how lucky we are in this country.  Despite our moral selectivity on war crimes, at least we have the leisure time and the freedom to pursue trail running when we wish to, without fear of armed bands of rebels or civil war.