I Am So Sorry

Not to belittle or downplay the suffering of the Vietnamese people under the U.S. assault from 1965 to 1975, or the Chilean people who had to endure 17 years of illegitimate and brutal dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet, or the Iranians who suffered under the U.S.-backed regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi, or the people of Guatemala and Nicaragua and El Salvador -- but I must say: the invasion, occupation, and seizing of Iraq, to serve the narrow interests of the oil conglomerates and Halliburton, marks the lowest point ever reached in the history of American foreign relations.

I am so sorry, as an American, and as an American citizen -- I am so sorry, to the people of Iraq, that my government has attacked and victimized you in such a barbaric, illegal, and illegitimate way -- based on lies and deceit.

To the people of Iraq, and the people of the Arab world generally, I speak only for myself as an individual, a citizen of the world, if not the United States.

I marched against this war repeatedly before it was launched, I walked precincts against Bush in 2004, I tried to help the Democratic candidate, for the first time in my life, by giving scarce money to a politician.

I am fully cognizant that I live in an empire and benefit thereby . . .

But reading today that my country, my government, is responsible for killing over one million of your people, I must formally apologize to you and give you my heartfelt sorrow and condolences.

I can never accept the idea that I am blameless -- for I consume the products, enjoy the lifestyle, reap the benefits of this unjust system -- but that was an accident of birth -- my father was a house painter, a tradesman, my grandfather was a poor man from Calabria, Italy.

The suffering of your people -- your women and children -- weighs heavily on my heart -- I will continue to do what I can to stop the bloodshed. But we cannot control the Imperium -- it acts on its own accord, with its own motives and means -- violent means. It controls us.

Please forgive us for we know not what we do.

I am so sorry.

Comments

[SmackwaterJack]

Please include me in the shame and sorrow.

[Tellmethetruth]

Amen, I am sorry too.

Bush is a heretic who believes in the ancient Babylonian heresy Manichæism, in where there are two distinct dieties, one good, and one evil who are engaged in an eternal war for domininion. So he has been sucked into a demonic need to maintain perpetual war using simplistic terms such as "we are fighting evil." The problem with the heresy is one justifies violence in the name of abolishing evil. One nevers see that a loving God created all peoples of the earth as Good and not evil, or that a loving God choses to love the inhabitants of the earth no matter what. Bush can't see the love and goodness in the people of Iraq, Iran, and Afghanstan or the "axis of evil." The other problem with this ancient heresy is in order to destroy evil, one must become evil, thus giving victory to "evil." Bush is fighting his own demons in his own eternal hell of his choosing to wage perpetual war with "evil."

He has no right to continue this war, and never possessed the right to do so in the name of a loving God. God loves the peoples of Iraq and Iran, and Afghanistan as much as God loves the people of the United States. God hears the prayers of a people who pray 4 times a day in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Who are we to deny the people God loves?

God, forgive us for the wrongs we have done to the innocent peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan, because we have rejected the many because of the sins of a few. Our mistake...Merciful God forgive us.

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

When I read one million dead since 2003 it hit me like a lightning bolt. And this in addition to the 500,000 dead as a result of sanctions in 1990s, and all of the displacement of innocent women and children and the outbreak of 7,000-plus cases of cholera in the north and fears it will spread to Baghdad -- the occupying power has responsibility for the well-being of the civilian population. This disregard for the lives of the people Bush claims to be "liberating" -- means that not only should Bush be impeached right now, he should tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has done nothing different in international legal terms than what Hitler did to Poland. It's time to bring war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against all of the principals responsible for this aggression. But 2004 marked the turning point in American history.

[BobHiggins]

I have been ashamed of the leadership of this country for two thirds of my six decades on this planet.

There is no brutality that can be imagined that the ruling criminal class, with the complicity of our political leadership, has not been guilty of in my lifetime.

Aside from writing and encouraging others to keep up the pressure I don't know what can be done to reverse the horror that I see on the not so distant horizon.

I too am sorry for my part in allowing America to become what we witness in the world today.

Bob Higgins
http://worldwide-sawdust.com

[disgustedcitizen]

I chose my blog name - disgustedcitizen - for the very reasons you mention above. I would like to add my apologies to the Iraqi people.

[aznurse]

after reading your post I couldnt sleep last night. Im also sorry. and ashamed of what we did to Iraq. then I read a story about a family who came here to help their son get surgery for burns he received from masked men who poured gas over him. When his mother got here she asked if this was heaven. I think to a lot of people in the world this country is heaven. I think by getting rid of this horrid administation and choosing a better one and acknowlegeing what we did was wrong and changing our behavior in the future we will eventually be forgiven. Even if we're not, we have to do the right thing.

[sonofloud]

All it takes for evil to exsist is for good men to do nothing.

[wanked]

No man csn terrorize a nation unless we are all his accomplices

[Spookcatcher]

American Indians, Hawaiin Islanders, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Marianna Islanders, Liberia, Mexico (Texas,California, New Mexico, Arizona), the list of American Manifest Destiny as repackaged from European White Supremist Elitism that we have inherited and then we now especially embraced after WW2 in all the countries above is not an Expansion of Democracy but has become Fascism.

[tcagle]

I am sorry that we allow energy monopolies to drive our government and urge us to interfere with the affairs of other countries.
I am sorry that so many kids have grown up since Reagan took office, not seeing the times when we were trying to make this a better world for others.
I am sorry people are willing to let about anyone run their government, not wanting any responsibility themselves. You get from this civilization what you put into it, collectively.

[t-party]

"I speak only for myself as an individual, a citizen of the world, if not the United States."--indeed you speak for many Americans, and you are no less an American citizen in doing so. Yes, we are also citizens of the world, but we are still patriotic American citizens. Let's be clear on that. The unpatriotic are those have led this country nearly to ruin for their own interests. But talk is cheep. “I’m so sorry” aint gonna cut it. Our country’s founding fathers were quite clear on our patriotic duty should this sort of thing ever happen. It is our patriotic duty and our duty to humanity. Once these usurpers, these traitors, are overthrown, they must be tried for treason, war crimes and crimes against humanity, every one of them, in the homeland and in The Hague. Spread the word.

[disintaGreatNation]

It will all be worth it once the empire collapses.

[Thorn]

The Democrats should use that as a slogan for 2008.

[Absintheforall]

Yeah, right. Osama and the rest of the muslim thugs would love to see that! Division in our ranks!

Actually, our adversaries probably wouldn't want to see that happen. If the Libs/Dems adopted such a slogan, they could kiss any notion of being elected to power goodbye.

[AnotherunhappyDemocrat]

I agree wholeheartedly. I, as an American, am ashamed of what my country has done in Iraq. Even though I have also stood against the war, marching in demonstrations and trying to elect leaders who support withdrawal, I don't feel like I've done enough. Saturday I will again raise my voice against this bloodshed and destruction, and then I will go back home to continue benefiting from this imperial system that has brought so much misery on innocent people everywhere, especially Iraq (and Vietnam). It makes me feel ashamed to be an American and a human being.

[Picasso]

Joseph:

I share your sense of shame as a citizen of the US.

The Hague solution is the moral imperative that the US citizenry must initiate now. The 300,000,000 of us can regain some respect from the world community if we return to grassroots democracy.

Can anyone direct us to the steps to take to pursue this rational and expedient course of action?

If we wait for the beltway politicians to act,how many more or our sons and daughters will die in Iraq, how many of Iraq's people must die, and how many billions of taxpayer dollars will be thrown down that black hole? We can not wait while the pols play their 19th century power games?

Picasso

[Frank Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you so much for writing this, and writing it so well. It speaks for so many of us -- simply, clearly, and with heartsick eloquence. Others will not feel that way. The best may not lack all conviction in this blighted time, but their elected leaders apparently do; and the worst are, as always, full of passionate intensity, although a few of their leaders do seem to be retiring at the end of long careers stricken with shame and sorrow).

Everyone should read this post. The many who are riled to fury by it are fools, guilty in the eyes of all the world and before the bar of history of the worst crimes that citizens in a democracy can commit. (Athens fell for crimes like these.) I wish I never had to be in the same room with any of them, but of course I do -- we're all in the same imperium -- and the same boat.

[nonbeliever]

I am so sorry too. But I do know what we are doing. Our leaders have defaulted on their responsibility as has most of the media. Future generations will ask why we didn't stand up for our country. Humanity is already asking how the great America could be so souless as to mow down hundreds of thousands of people and not even count them.

[commonsenselives]

I'm right there with you, nonbeliever.