US government harming people home, abroad: Analyst

The United States government does not hesitate to harm people to protect its domestic and foreign interests, says a political analyst in Illinois, citing a violent crackdown on pipeline protesters in North Dakota as an example.

The violent encounter occurred on Saturday, when hundreds of protesters gathered at one of the Dakota Access Pipeline’s construction sites, where some bulldozers were leveling the ground.

When the demonstrators, mostly Native Americans, urged the construction team to cease operations, security personnel from the Energy Transfer, the contractor, showed up and started to spray mace onto protesters while attacking them by their trained dogs.

“People are protesting the degradation to the land that this would cause,” Stephen Lendman, an author and radio host, told Press TV on Sunday.

“They are doing it responsibly; they are doing it non-violently and when something like this happens, whether it is Native Americans protesting, or black Americans protesting or any Americans protesting against any issue that harms the welfare, they usual response is police-state violence,” Lendman said.

At least six protesters were viciously bitten by the canines, tribe spokesman Steve Sitting Bear said, adding that over 30 others were pepper-sprayed in the face.

However, Vicki Granado, Energy Transfer’s spokesman, accused the protesters of resorting to “unwarranted violence.”

“We are working with law enforcement to ensure that all offenders are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he noted.

The four-state pipeline’s construction has been met with resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and nearly 100 more tribes from across the US.

Landowners and environmental activists have also been voicing opposition to the $3.8 billion project.

The protesters argue that the pipeline, which crosses the Missouri River, will contaminate drinking water for thousands of Native Americans and destroy their cultural sites.

Lendman said it was not surprising that the bullies were using their media access to appear as the victims and go after the people who were peacefully protecting their rights.

“This happens repeatedly, over and over again in America with little coverage, or when there is coverage, generally the people abused—the victims – are the ones who are to blame,” Lendman said.

“In other words, things are upside down or backwards; ordinary people get hurt so privileged Americans can make lots of money and do lots of other things to harm people,” the analyst further argued.

“This is the way America operates at home and abroad, causing more harm to more people than any other country in the world history,” he concluded.