When the first settlers came to this country we were ruled by a king. That king was responsible for running the entire British Empire. Blame for wrong doing fell on his shoulders.
The great American experiment changed the way we are governed. Now we rule ourselves. The power resides with the people. Mr. Bush says he is the Decider. But he says a lot of things that are not true. The truth is that we, the American people, are responsible for what America does. We, the people, are the Deciders.
Before I headed off to church this morning I sent some time enjoying coffee and reading the paper. It is a quieting, relaxing time, and a wonderful way to start Sunday morning. I read an article about Blackwater in the Traverse City Record Eagle. It was a first hand accounting of a reporter who was in Iraq and her experiences with Blackwater contractors. What started as a sense of security slowly deteriorated as she watched tough young men emerge into American cowboys, drinking, chasing women, and shooting civilians to “get the job done”. They are mercenaries operating without the code of conduct our military forces live by. Their ruthless and indiscriminate ways of operating causes terror and hatred among the people they came to save and protect.
The other thing that has been popping up in the news lately is torture sanctioned by the American government. Even while claiming Americans don’t torture, secret memos are coming to light that the Bush administration used to justify torture.
Tens years ago we could not have imagined our America, the country we love, being involved in torture, fielding a huge mercenary army living outside of normal rules of conduct, or America loosing the respect the world because of its new found preference for military invasion over diplomacy.
We are to blame. Not George Bush. Or Cheney. Not Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice or any of the others. They just work for us. We, the American people, must accept the blame.
Where is our outcry? Where is the relentless insistence that America will not torture and will not field mercenary forces? Where is the demand that America must act with honor and compassion even while we act to protect ourselves and our neighbors?
Isn’t it time that we repent and ask for forgiveness?
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