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In the six months since he took office, US President Barack Obama, using glib rhetoric, has attempted to refurbish America’s jaded image globally. It seems he is succeeding. He not only continues to enjoy high favorable ratings but many people believe the US has turned a page on the egregious crimes of the Bush era. They should think again.

Last month “new revelations” about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) running death squads and keeping the program secret from Congress on orders of former Vice President Dick Cheney has sent many people into righteous indignation. While this should not surprise the victims of US crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran or Pakistan, it once again exposes the deeply criminal nature of the US political system. The CIA death squads’ story broke out after Obama’s spy chief, Leon Panetta briefed congressional intelligence committees on June 23. He said he had become “aware” of the secret program the day before and ordered it terminated. That the spy agency under his command should continue an illegal, criminal program for four months under his watch without informing him sounds implausible. It must be recalled that last April when information about CIA torture methods, euphemistically referred to as “enhanced interrogation techniques” became public, Obama personally went to Langley to assure CIA employees they would not face charges.

Revelations about CIA death squads is old news for those familiar with history. As early as January 2003, in his State of the Union address, Bush had said, “All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. And many others have met a different fate. Let’s put it this way: They are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies.” The entire Congress erupted in wild applause. For congressmen and congresswomen to now claim they were “shocked” to learn they had been kept in the dark about what the CIA was doing is not only infantile, it is an attempt to walk away from their responsibilities.

Here is what Diane Feinstein, the Democratic chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News Sunday on July 12 about the CIA death squads, “We were kept in the dark. That’s something that should never, ever happen again... because the law is very clear.” It should never happen again; that’s it? If the law is very clear, Congress should demand trial of those who broke it. Further, it should demand an immediate halt to illegal drone attacks on Pakistan’s population that have killed hundreds of civilians. What is the difference between Obama’s drones killing civilians and the Bush-Cheney death squads?

But the larger question is whether the US Congress needed to hear directly from the CIA chief about his agency running death squads killing people. One is constrained to ask: why did Congress fail to take note in 2003 when Bush declared many terror suspects had been dealt with in a manner “They are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies?” Instead, they cheered and applauded.

All this feigned surprise is meant to fool people into believing the US is a law-abiding entity. It is nothing of the sort. Its rulers are absolutely ruthless; they care for no laws — of others as well as their own. They will go to any length and perpetrate any crime to get what they want. Since they have the power, they think they can get away with it. Regrettably, they do. This is what makes the US, and the world, so dangerous.