taps on Masses, Elites, and Rebels

It's to downplay actions of the US by demonizing its enemies. If you make it a point about how much worse other countries are, you justify the conditions at home. "The US is bad but it's still the best there is. We may have paramilitary death squads murdering people in the street, but at least we don't have communist gangs out murdering people in their own plantations homes!"