But what of the American people's responsibility? Responsibility not just for the catastrophic damage done to America, but the crimes inflicted onto millions of innocents in a war that is illegal under international law.
This summer saw the passing of two leading scholars of the Holocaust, Raul Hilberg and Norman Cohn, whose analyses have as constant companions the questions of how the Holocaust could have occurred and which Germans bear responsibility. The mood of "passive compliance" is the culprit.
Frank Rich takes up the question of responsibility for the Iraq War today in The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us.
###“BUSH lies” doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to confront the darker reality that we are lying to ourselves. ...
I have always maintained that the American public was the least culpable of the players during the run-up to Iraq. The war was sold by a brilliant and fear-fueled White House propaganda campaign designed to stampede a nation still shellshocked by 9/11. Both Congress and the press — the powerful institutions that should have provided the checks, balances and due diligence of the administration’s case — failed to do their job. Had they done so, more Americans might have raised more objections. This perfect storm of democratic failure began at the top.
As the war has dragged on, it is hard to give Americans en masse a pass. We are too slow to notice, let alone protest, the calamities that have followed the original sin. ...
Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day.
Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.
No comments:
Post a Comment