© AFP 2015/ AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
And the US arms industry, he says, is the only beneficiary of this role.
"At home, it sells the guns that are used, virtually without control, to slaughter innocent groups of people, including in churches and schools," the former US Foreign Service officer elaborated in his article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"Our corrupt and conscienceless federal and state legislators lack the courage and brains to stop it. And this is not just about the National Rifle Association; it is also about the arms manufacturers and dealers that finance the NRA so that it can exercise influence in Washington and state capitals."And overseas, Simpson added, the Americans are considered killers.
"Other countries can only pray to their chosen god or gods that the United States does not decide to work its will on them, whether it be to impose a form of government we think they should adopt or to cite some supposed wrong they have committed as an excuse to pour bombs down upon them or send drones to kill their leaders."The countries that claim to be US allies are doing so only in an attempt to exercise some sort of control over homicidal US tendencies, he added, mostly referring to the British.
"Some countries just want to stay away from us, and, most of all, not to depend on us for anything."
Simpson cited India as an example: US government and private arms salesmen have worked for years to make India a big client for American weapons.
"India has chosen instead to smile at Americans but to continue to buy its arms from Russia — the Russia led by the notorious Vladimir V. Putin, as opposed to the America led by the adorable Barack H. Obama."Could it be that India is aware that American arms are invariably accompanied by American military advisers to train and support their foreign customers, he questioned.
"We should bring our forces home. There will be no peace on Earth until we do. Let us not be killers," Simpson concluded.
Comment: Perhaps if more Americans understood how the rest of the world views our culture of violence and fears our 'humanitarian' interventions and spreading of 'democracy' they might begin to questions current policies and demand change. But it is unlikely that any mainstream media outlet will crack open a door that might crush the carefully constructed myth of American exceptionalism.