CERD allows us to see ourselves in their reflection. Winter Soldier allows us a glimpse into the hearts and minds of our military fighting abroad.

The next line of the Paine article reads: "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered." While he had in mind the tyranny of British colonialism, we must look deep into our collective psyche and ask whom should Paine castigate were he writing today.

Sadly, this historical hypothetical breaks down when we note carefully the charges leveled by CERD. American Indians, Native Hawaiians and Alaskan Natives continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing occupation lauded by "freedom" lovers like Paine.

Never one to hoard our tyranny, transnational corporations registered in the U.S., according to CERD, are causing "adverse effects of economic activities connected with the exploitation of natural resources" to indigenous peoples across the globe.

Not to worry, we are heaping substantially more spiritual, cultural and physical depredations on Native Americans. We save our worst brand of environmental racism for our own -- including nuclear testing, hazardous waste storage, and harmful mining activities.

Discrimination abounds here -- in housing, employment, criminal justice (especially racially disproportionate death penalties and lives without parole), health care, and education -- discrimination that would make even the staunchest patriot blush with embarrassment.

Hell, if this report were about any other country than our own, we likely would impose economic sanctions against them.

Later in his 1776 article, Paine rails against empire. "All countries have sooner or later been called to their reckoning; the proudest empires have sunk when the balance was struck," warns this patriot. What would he think if he realized his favorite country were to become one?

I cried when I read the testimony of John Michael Turner, who served two tours in Iraq as a machine gunner. This Marine told an audience of event participants and invited press about his "first kill."

"He was innocent," Turner said. "I called him the fat man. He was walking back to his house, and I killed him in front of his father and friend. My first shot made him scream and look into my eyes. So I looked at my friend and said, 'Well, I can't let that happen,' and shot him again. After my first kill, I was congratulated."

Having researched the numerous reports of military excesses, at Abu Ghraib and Haditha for example, his stories did not shock me. What struck me were his concluding remarks. They touched my heart. The human cost on all sides is devastating.

"I want to say I'm sorry for the hate and destruction that I and others have inflicted on innocent people" he lamented. "It is not OK, and this is happening, and until people hear what is going on, this is going to continue. I am no longer the monster that I once was."

Americans believe we live in an exceptional country, one where the laws of humanity do not apply to us because we are destined for greatness. Since 9/11, we have accelerated our wars against difference, at home and abroad.

We engage domestically in virulent discrimination against racial, ethnic, and national minorities. We bracket "free fire zones" and engage in indiscriminate violence against an enemy we can no longer see in Iraq.

"I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it," concludes Paine. Can you? I see great cause for fear and can see no way out of our present situation.

These are the times that try our souls and we must find in ours compassion or perish at our own hands.