1. Support of Dictators: For all the happy talk of spreading Democracy and protecting human rights, the empire has repeatedly not only supported dictators, but in many cases overthrew popularly elected leaders and replaced them with puppet tyrants. Examples range from secretly funding the Nazis, to installing the Shah in Iran, Pinochet in Chile, supporting Musharraf in Pakistan, and their everlasting love affair with the brutal Saudi royal family, to name a few. Actions speak louder than words to those who can navigate the storm of propaganda with a moral compass set to recognize good from evil. Dictators and freedom cannot coexist.

2. Preemptive Wars of Aggression: It could be said that all wars are preemptive in nature because so many entities benefit from war. Yet, even before America's latest crusades, they covertly and surgically attacked countries that never threatened them. This allowed them to maintain the moral high road in the public's eye while constructing the foundation of their empire. That was until the Bush Doctrine; the use of preemptive military action to confront possible threats was unofficially adopted to be the new foreign policy for combating terror. Since then, America has become the violent aggressors, having officially invaded two countries -- Afghanistan and Iraq -- without legitimate provocation. Violent aggressors have always been judged by history as evil. But it gets worse....

3. Torture: Torture has never been acceptable by those promoting a high moral standing in the global community. Nazis and Japanese soldiers were convicted and executed for engaging in the exact same torture techniques that America has redefined as 'enhanced interrogation'. "I was just following orders," was not a justifiable excuse for such inhumane behavior, much like it wasn't a good enough defense for the low-ranking patsies who took the heat for the sinister Abu Ghraib torture scandal even though their actions were approved at the highest levels. Can state-sanctioned torture of prisoners held without charges ever be viewed as anything less than brutal?

4. Suppression of Dissent: All tyrannical regimes throughout history have suppressed homeland dissent. As government oppression grows bolder at home and abroad, more citizens will naturally express outrage, resulting in even more oppressive controls. This is happening in the United States through the all-seeing eye of the Department of Homeland Security with warrantless spying, arbitrary watch lists, citizen spy campaigns, and TSA molestation to travel anywhere. Additionally, in an attempt to squash free speech, they arbitrarily seize websites and violently confront peaceful protesters. Unfortunately, as awareness of the topics in this very article expands, the U.S. will likely become even bolder in their pursuit of stifling dissent. In other words, the worst is yet to come, and history will judge the U.S. as not quite the beacon of freedom they have pretended to be.

5. Elimination of Habeas Corpus: Say goodbye to the notion of being innocent until proven guilty, the right to face charges and your accuser, and the right to a free and fair trial. Habeas corpus, considered the only humane path to "which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention," has been eliminated for those vaguely labeled 'enemy combatants' of the empire. As Guantanamo prisoners rot under such pretenses, prominent lawmakers in the empire propose the exact same lack of rights for American citizens if they're labeled an 'enemy belligerent'. Similar to the Spanish Inquisition, now you're guilty until you're tortured to admit your guilt. Can it get more evil? Why yes, it can. Read on.

6. Assassinating Citizens: That's right. No judge, no jury, no conviction; just straight to execution. America has set another precedent in their tyrannical march toward empire when they openly assassinated an American citizen and government patsy, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his teenage son on the suspicion of terrorism. Paul Craig Roberts laments "Now the US government not only can seize a US citizen and confine him in prison for the rest of his life without ever presenting evidence and obtaining a conviction, but also can have him shot down in the street or blown up by a drone." Isn't this the reason America claims to be knocking off dictators around the world -- the deliberate killing of their own citizens?

But Awlaki was a bad apple because the intelligence community said so. What's most telling that America will continue this wickedness is that almost every US lawmaker turned a blind eye to the grotesque violation of Constitutional rights. Only Ron Paul said that assassinating an American citizen without charges is nothing less than an "impeachable offense". Too bad most of the country cheered the Awlaki killing as a "victory" in the war on terror, indicating that it is now an acceptable tactic. Americans beware: you may be moved from a secret watch list to a secret kill list in this brutal empire.

7. Unauthorized Drone Wars: Unprovoked wars without authorization, accountability, or independent oversight only seem to be escalating; and with little resistance. The US Congress no longer votes to "declare war". They simply give the Commander in Chief broad "authorization" to use force against specific nations. However, even that is not broad enough in the rapid pursuit of empire. Now, joystick warriors directed by the CIA and Pentagon have targeted at least three countries with "unauthorized" military strikes; Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Even worse, they waged a full-scale war for regime change and resource plundering in Libya without any authority inside the United States. Under the NATO flag, which is 75% funded by the U.S., they flew over 9200 strike sorties in Libya to illegally topple Gaddafi. Drunk with success, the bloodthirsty empire marches on to their next preemptive targets, Syria and Iran. Quick morality check: unprovoked killing and stealing as a first resort is still wrong, right?

8. Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction: How ironic that the world's policeman for weapons of mass destruction is the only one to use them on a mass scale. The United States is on record using chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons. From the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII, to Monsanto's Agent Orange in Vietnam, to the depleted uranium used in Afghanistan and Iraq, America only condemns itself when speaking about the evils of WMDs. However, killers don't appear to care how the killing is accomplished, so long as it achieves their goals. The real firecrackers will likely be brought out in a confrontation with Iran, or if China and Russia are lured into the conflict. It won't really matter much what history says if the use of WMD escalates by either side, but the aggressors should rightly be blamed for the ensuing scorched earth, while the defenders against killers and thieves should be viewed as righteous.

9. World's Largest Drug Dealer: The American empire is the largest drug dealer in the world? Say it isn't so. Well, in addition to forcing legal drugs and genetically modified organisms on nations, usually under the cover of foreign aid, America also leads in the illegal drug trade. In fact, many researchers reveal that the war on drugs is only utilized to control and monopolize the illicit drug trade. The US government has been caught multiple times shipping in cocaine, colluding with certain cartels to control the industry, and now openly protects and transports opium from Afghanistan. In fact, Global Research points out that in 2001, "according to UN figures, opium production had fallen to 185 tons. Immediately following the October 2001 US led invasion, production increased dramatically, regaining its historical levels." This month, the U.N. announced that Afghanistan now provides 93% of the world's opium production; up 61% compared to 2010 to a whopping 5800 tonnes. Although the empire tries to keep it secret, they can't hide the hypocrisy forever.

10. World Reserve Currency Prison: Although using Weapons of Mass Debt is a non-violent form of expanding the empire, it's perhaps the most brutal and effective form of control. Requiring foreign nations to purchase oil and other imported commodities with US dollars wields immense power. Because all nations must acquire dollars to purchase critical resources, they quickly become indebted to the US Federal Reserve, their affiliate central banks, and the IMF. Before long, the entire world is colonized by debt. It seems that only the nations that don't need or refuse credit from Western banking institutions are the ones in danger of facing the wrath of the imperial war machine. Incidentally, most oil-rich nations in the Middle East have outlawed usury (lending money with interest), making them impossible to conquer diplomatically through debt. Controlling the world reserve currency means controlling the tap of life itself, which is a dangerous weapon in the hands of an aggressive empire. Debt is the ultimate WMD the empire uses to enslave the world, which leaves dissidents with two clear choices: slavery or death.