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.
Follow Joseph A. Palermo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JosephPalermo1
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.