Why does everyone so readily accept propaganda about the US?

[Wahr]

I have seen quite a few posts in which the United States gets mentioned as being the bad guy or that they just need to mind their own business. While I do agree they need to be a little less assertive when it comes to international matters I cannot get over the complete and utterly ABSURD factual inaccuracies many people put forward.

Please keep in mind, I am not advocating that the US is the best country in the world or anything like that. I am not even a citizen of the US, I am just interested in how the world actually works. They are not the monstrous power hungry nation that many people assume they are. Obviously they have a degree of self interest in many situations but what country doesn't?

Iraq
Iraq was run by a dictator named Saddam Hussein who had committed numerous war crimes. During the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980's, Iraq had used WMDs of the chemical variant against Iran at the orders of Saddam (admitted to by his own government). There never was any nuclear weapons and the US certainly wasn't searching for such at the time of invasion. They were there to capture Saddam for war crimes, regardless of whether or not they had WMDs at that time. The US wasn't the only country with troops there, many other countries also sent troops. After the capture of Saddam he was tried and executed for his crimes.

Saddam had committed other war crimes, including the use of chemical weapons against his own people.

Afghanistan
After the attacks on the US in 2001, the US had invaded Afghanistan to capture Osama Bin Laden and dismantle al-Qaeda. The US was not alone in this, they had support from the United Nations. Perhaps the biggest factor here: the government of Afghanistan was occupied by al-Qaeda (they had taken over ever since the Russians recalled their invasion). The previous government was operating under a resistance organization known as the United Islamic Front which were working in conjunction with the US and allies to remove al-Qaeda from power and dismantle them. This is why the US and allies are still there today despite Bin Laden being dead; working with the restored government of Afghanistan to remove the terrorist organization and corruption from the country.

North Korea
North Korea has a history of first strikes against South Korea. NK is by no means the little kid that's being bullied, they have repeatedly overstepped their capabilities out of hatred for SK. The US spends quite a few resources to support and protect SK from NK (who would like nothing better than to see SK burn). If it was truly about picking on NK then the US and SK would have invaded and conquered them a long time ago instead; they have already had plenty of excuses to do so. The problem with NK is that they are actively attempting to gain nuclear weapons that they would have no issues using against SK at all and this is an issue that China (one of their only allies) is now recognizing.

Instead of quickly jumping to the absurd conclusions about the US, let's review some facts:

• They are more willing to cooperatively and simultaneously disarm a larger portion of their nuclear weaponry than any other country.
• They provide more disaster relief and aid to countries than any other country in the world.
• They are protecting South Korea from North Korea.
• They are helping the government of Afghanistan eradicate al-Qaeda.
• They are protecting Israel from basically all the countries around it.
• They are protecting Taiwan from China.
• They are protecting Japan from China.
• They are increasing presence in the Asia-Pacific region the since it is commonplace for the government of China to officially threaten surrounding countries (especially Vietnam) to "fall in line or else"/"we are big and you are small".
• When Saddam was wanted for war crimes, they led the charge when nobody else would.

This all costs a LOT of resources despite the fact that the economy is down. I'd say they are pretty generous.

It's quite obvious how people see the US as "world police", but whether or not that is a bad thing is VERY subjective: South Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Japan, and Taiwan certainly don't think so.

[Deleted]

While it is clear that you put some effort into making this thread, I am afraid that I am going to have to close it.

We do not allow overtly nationalist discussion on the forums. You are welcome to make a more general thread about the nature of propaganda and why people choose to think certain things, but singling out any country is likely to invite nation-bashing.