Damian: Why does anybody believe US talk about democracy?

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the story about US soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners is the amount of surprise it has caused.  I mean, why should anyone be surprised by the actions of the US government and its troops?
 
What else do we expect from a country that has bombed 21 different countries since 1945?  What more can we expect from a country which has dropped an atomic bomb twice in anger? 
 
Why does anybody believe US talk about democracy coming from country that has tried to overturn democracy in countries like Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Algeria and many more?  Can some one explain why anyone believes in US talk about freedom when it supports regimes in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria and again many more?  Why does anyone believe the empty rhetoric of the most morally moribund government on this planet?
 
And then there's their troops, what a fine record they have: rape and torture in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Iraq.  Nothing should surprise you about the actions of some of the most ignorant, uncivilised, uneducated, inhuman people on the planet.
 
Perhaps the saddest "why", is why we expect anything more from a government with a track-record like that.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Damian