RNA - "The Pentagon Papers documented the back-room deliberations of successive US presidents regarding the conflict in Vietnam over three decades. US presidents lied to and deceived the American people about the reasons for and conduct of that conflict,” said Dennis Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.
“But this way of conducting activity did not stop with Vietnam. The lies and deceit continued with the conflicts in Central America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, to mention the most egregious examples,” Etler told Press TV on Thursday.
According to a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington, US President Donald Trump is leading the “most unethical presidency” in modern times and possibly in the nation’s history.
“No president in the history of our nation has held businesses creating the kinds of conflicts, constitutional violations, and self-dealing we see with this one," the report’s authors said.
"Meanwhile, President Trump has again and again used his office [to] personally profit, most prominently by spending roughly a third of his days as president at his resorts, but also by constantly promoting his businesses,” the report said.
Etler, however, questioned whether Trump’s actions have been more unethical than his predecessors.
“Which is more morally bankrupt, protecting one’s commercial interests from scrutiny, or being responsible for the destruction of whole nations, the death of millions of innocent people and the creation of millions of refugees due to the actions of past US presidents in South East Asia, Central America, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa?” he asked.
“Under successive presidencies, the federal government, in the name of its “War on Drugs” implemented policies that led to the destruction of millions of lives by mass incarceration,” Etler noted.
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