DaveC said:
Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia.
Getting in bed with the Saudis and effectively using them as puppets to control oil supply.
Poison gas - 1917-1918
Atomic bombs - 1945
Repeated nuclear weapons tests - 1945-1992
Ballistic missile defense tests - 1980-Present
Blockade of Cuba - over 75,000 dead (directly and indirectly)
Invasion of Iraq - over 100,000 dead
Two atomic bombs - over 350,000 dead (directly and indirectly)
Killing of own citizens (as punishment) - over 5,000 dead
Plus countless others in smaller-scale wars and police actions.
Bay of Pigs invasion - 1961
Thousands of illegal immigrants granted work visas without background checks every year.
Chemical weapons - over 20,000 tons
Nuclear weapons - over 10,000 individual warheads
This nation is the United States of America.
Double standard?
#1 The United States did not launch any unprovoked invasions of Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, or Yugoslavia.
a. Every US action against Iraq has been approved by the United Nations and been conducted with a coalition of nations.
b. The United States went into Somalia because it was the only country positioned to aid that country with delivery of food to the starving population. Liberals pushed hard for this particular action.
c. The United States responded to the problem in Haiti after months of a constant flow of refugees into Florida.
d. The United States invaded Afghanistan after the Taliban failed to deliver Bin Ladin and other Al Quada members and were found to be working with Al Quada and Bin Ladin. This happened within one month after Al Quada had attacked the WTC killing 3,000 Americans and people from other countries.
e. In the former Yugoslavia, the United States and other NATO countries finally intervened to stop the fighting in Bosnia that had already taken over 250,000 lives. They were successful in stopping the fighting and brought stability to the area so much so, that in September of 1997, U2 brought their POPMART tour to the Capital. During the concert, BONO praised the US troops success in ending the Bosnian war. In Kosovo, the United States and NATO responded to the gross human rights tragedy unfolding there brought on by Serb Ethnic cleansing. The United States and NATO successfully brought a level of stability to Kosovo that the Serbs had failed to, partly because the goals of Milosovic did not really involve safety and stability for the Muslim population.
The United States is not in bed with the Saudi's to control oil supplies. The whole world purchases Saudi oil and Saudi Arabia has often made up for shortages that often occur in Iraq, Russia and Venezuela. Saudi oil has helped keep energy prices around the world low and has helped the planets economy grow.
Saddam has used WMD more times on the battlefield than any other leader in history. Truman from the United States used the Atomic Bomb twice in 1945.
The blockade of Cuba is the fault of Castro and his Communist supporters. 100,000 civilians have not been killed by the invasion of Iraq. Most of the civilians that have died since the end of the initial invasion have died from terrorist acts committed by Saddam loyalist and Al Quada. Its true that thousands of civilians died in the Atomb Bomb blast in 1945 over Japan, but Japan surrendered because of the use of the Bombs. If Japan had not surrendered, the US Air Command would have continued its campaign, and Japan would have been invaded in the Spring of 1946. Millions of Japanese citizens would have been killed in the fighting. The use of the Atomic Bombs prevented this from happening.
The United States has never been required by the United Nations to disarm of its WMD's because it had unlawfully invaded another country as Saddam's Iraq had as well as because it had used such weapons on a massive scale unlawfully.
Double Standard?
No, the two are not even comparable, disregarding the inaccurate information used to attempt a comparison. Saddam is one leader that was in control of Iraq for 25 years. The United States is a country that has had dozens of leaders over the past 225 years. I don't understand the desperate attempt to make Saddam look like a saint by comparing him to the alleged evils of a country that has been around for over 2 century's. This just proves that not only is Saddam one of the most terrible leaders in history, Saddam has done far more harm to the planet than most countries have over several hundred years.