Applies to the infinite number of authoritarian police forces we have in the US, also ...

Police forces that are increasingly controlled, sometime very directly, by Bush's Homeland inSecurity.

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Mary at The Left Coaster links to Family, Military and God: American Political Culture Viewed From the Outside at firedoglake.

... Seems almost inarguable but it leads to lesser military effectiveness in a myriad of situations, but nowhere more than in anti-insurgency operations where the willingness of American troops to blow away civilians if there is even a miniscule chance that might make troops safer has actually lead to troops being less safe, because it has increased the number of people who have reason to want to kill American troops.

The US has an image of itself as a country of the brave. Perhaps George W. Bush was the perfect President for the US as it now is. A country of hollow, self righteous showmen. I certainly hope not, but --looking at McCain's polling numbers-- it may be so. In which case the US will get what it deserves --and Heaven Help the rest of us.

Certainly, there's a balance between foolhardiness and courage and between safety and responsibility. In US police enforcement that balance has skewed to the point where all a police officer needs to justify the shooting, the electrocution, the punching, the stomping, the battering of the citizens and visitors of this country is to state they were afraid for their safety. That excuses all. The job of US Police Officers is to keep themselves safe. The citizenry do not matter. There is no longer any pretense that the police forces in the US are here to serve the community. They are in the business of control. They protect the very rich and powerful. We have come full circle to police as enforcers for the rich in a feudal-like system of economic serfs and masters.