16 Dec, 2014
American values only exist in Hollywood films | GulfNews.com
By Linda Heard
It is irksome to hear US presidents admonishing other countries on human rights and alleged crimes against humanity, while trumpeting their own country’s set-in-stone values. A nation either operates on a certain set of values, ethics and principles or it does not. Values cannot be cherry-picked as a matter of convenience. US administrations go out of their way to present a squeaky clean facade and when they are caught on the hop, they invariably attempt to get themselves off the hook by stating the crimes in question were committed by a few bad apples who end up getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Even those high up, unable to escape justice because their crimes were made public, often receive presidential pardons or have their sentences commuted. For instance, president Richard Nixon, who was shamed in Watergate was subsequently pardoned by his successor, president Gerald Ford. Another well-known example involves officials convicted of perjury or withholding information related to the Iran-Contra Affair, such as Caspar Weinberger, Robert McFarlane, Elliott Abrams and others, pardoned by George H.W. Bush in 1992. A year later, Weinberger was nominated chairman of Forbes magazine; McFarlane became an advisor to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, while Abrams was appointed special assistant to George W. Bush and senior director for Democracy.
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