Snowdon is a dummy

As for the "lack of accountability" of US armed forces...if you are talking about keeping its members under control rather than running amok...

...I would say that our troops are more under control than most previous world forces have been.

If the thrust of your comment was aimed at higher ups...well, the same thing goes. The leaders of the most powerful countries in history all seemed more likely to be more excessive than what we are being.

International Terrorism: Image and Reality
Noam Chomsky

...

There are many terrorist states in the world, but the United States is unusual in that it is officially committed to international terrorism, and on a scale that puts its rivals to shame.

...

The US commitment to international terrorism reaches to fine detail. Thus the proxy forces attacking Nicaragua were directed by their CIA and Pentagon commanders to attack "soft targets," that is, barely defended civilian targets. The State Department specifically authorized attacks on agricultural cooperatives -- exactly what we denounce with horror when the agent is Abu Nidal. Media doves expressed thoughtful approval of this stand. New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, at the liberal extreme of mainstream commentary, argued that we should not be too quick to dismiss State Department justifications for terrorist attacks on farming cooperatives: a "sensible policy" must "meet the test of cost-benefit analysis," an analysis of "the amount of blood and misery that will be poured in, and the likelihood that democracy will emerge at the other end." It is understood that US elites have the right to conduct the analysis and pursue the project if it passes their tests.6

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199112--02.htm

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-korean-war-the-unknown-war-the-coverup-of-us-war-crimes

The Korean War: The “Unknown War”. The Coverup of US War Crimes
By Sherwood Ross
Global Research, March 16, 2011

Though the North Koreans had a reputation for viciousness, according to Cumings, U.S. soldiers actually engaged in more civilian massacres. This included dropping over half a million tons of bombs and thousands of tons of napalm, more than was loosed on the entire Pacific theater in World War II, almost indiscriminately. The review goes on to say, “Cumings deftly reveals how Korea was a clear precursor to Vietnam: a divided country, fighting a long anti-colonial war with a committed and underestimated enemy; enter the U.S., efforts go poorly, disillusionment spreads among soldiers, and lies are told at top levels in an attempt to ignore or obfuscate a relentless stream of bad news. For those who like their truth unvarnished, Cumings’s history will be a fresh, welcome take on events that seemed to have long been settled.”

Interviewed in two one-hour installments by Lawrence Velvel, Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, producers of Comcast’s “Books of Our Time” with the first installment being shown on Sunday, March 20th, Cumings said U.S. coverage of the war was badly slanted. Hanson Baldwin, the military correspondent for The New York Times, described “North Koreans as locusts, like Nazis, like vermin, who come shrieking on. I mean, this is really hard stuff to read in an era when you don’t get away with that kind of thinking anymore.” Cumings adds, “Rapes were extremely common. Koreans in the South will still say that that was one of the worst things of the war (was how)many American soldiers were raping Korean women.”

The Haditha incident (also called the Haditha killings or the Haditha massacre) refers to the incident in which 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children, all civilians,[1] were killed by a group of United States Marines on November 19, 2005 in Haditha, a city in the western Iraqi province of Al Anbar. The dead included several children and elderly people, who were shot multiple times at close range while unarmed. It has been alleged that the killings were retribution for the attack on a convoy of Marines with an improvised explosive device that killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas. Many news reports have compared the incident to the My Lai massacre.[2]

[...] Iraqis expressed disbelief and voiced outrage after the six-year US military prosecution ended with none of the Marines sentenced to jail.

If you want to link me to Walter's post...do so.

The EU parliament has suspended an accord on sharing banking data with the US. Intended to fight terrorism and organized crime, there are allegations the NSA used the deal to spy on Europeans, says MEP Birgit Sippel.
... ... ....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says President Barack Obama has assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl) that the U.S. isn't listening in on her phone calls.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says Obama and Merkel spoke by phone on Wednesday. Germany says Merkel initiated the call after receiving information that U.S. intelligence may have targeted her mobile phone. Merkel's spokesman says the chancellor told Obama that if true, it would be unacceptable.

But Carney says, quote, "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

Carney says the U.S. is examining Germany's concerns as part of an ongoing review of how the U.S. gathers intelligence. The White House has cited that review in responding to similar spying concerns from France and other U.S. allies.

But Carney says, quote, "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

Carney said: "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

But asked by the Guardian if the US had monitored the German chancellor's phone "in the past", Caitlin Hayden, the White House's National Security Council spokeswoman, said: "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel. Beyond that, I'm not in a position to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity."

But Carney says, quote, "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

Quote:

If you want to link me to Walter's post...do so.

It's the post I was responding to. I also gave the post number. Anyone with more than half a brain cell should be able to find it. Tell me if you can't.

Link me...or don't link me as you see fit. You are the one who wants me to read it.

But asked by the Guardian if the US had monitored the German chancellor's phone "in the past", Caitlin Hayden, the White House's National Security Council spokeswoman, said: "The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel.

Well, in retrospect I concluded that I DON'T want you to read it. You could die of a heart attack or commit suicide, and I don't want to have your death on my conscience.