Rick Santorum wants President Barack Obama to apologize to Afghan officials for the horrific shooting of 16 civilians allegedly carried out by a U.S. soldier on Sunday. Yet just two weeks ago, Santorum sharply criticized the president for apologizing to Afghanistan after U.S. service members inadvertently burned copies of the Quran.
On Sunday, Obama called to offer his "condolences" to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"President Obama called President Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the reported killing and wounding of Afghan civilians," said the official White House readout of the call. "President Obama extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible. The President reaffirmed our deep respect for the Afghan people and the bonds between our two countries."
Santorum put out his own call for Obama to apologize for the shooting after delivering an energy speech in Biloxi, Miss.:
We have to determine what's happened. Obviously this is a horrible situation where if it turns out to be the case that this person did a horrible wrong and it was a deliberate act, a deliberate act by an American soldier, and that is something we should clearly say was something that we should apologize for, that it's not a mistake, it wasn't something that was inadvertent.
This was something that was deliberately done by an American soldier to innocent civilians. It's something that the proper authorities should apologize for, for not doing their job in making sure that something like this wouldn't happen. Something like this should not happen in our military, period.
Santorum had earlier said that the United States should not apologize for the Quran-burnings because it "suggests that there is somehow blame” and "shows weakness."
So apparently, following the former senator's logic, one should apologize for something that is done deliberately but not something done accidentally.
Both Santorum and Newt Gingrich raised questions about the U.S. mission in Afghanistan in the wake of the shooting, while Mitt Romney's campaign said, "We must be clear that America stands with the Afghan people, not against them."