Dick Clarke made headlines not only by being critical of the Bush administration's handling of terrorism, but by offering an apology on behalf of himself and the government to the families of the 9-11 victims. "Your government failed you," he said. Yesterday, Condi Rice offered no apology, and was not only explicit about not doing so, she sent Scott McClelland ahead to the press to inform them that she would not be offering one, just so they wouldn't miss the non-moment when she didn't offer an apology.
This stirred memories in my mind of the Chinese jet pilot incident that occurred three years ago, in April 2001. As you may recall, a U.S. spy plane was buzzed by a Chinese fighter jet; the two planes collided, and the fighter pilot was killed, while the spy plane was forced to land in China and the crew was held for a couple of weeks. The Chinese government demanded an apology from the U.S., and Bush responded angrily that no apology would be coming since apology implies responsibility, and the spy plane was clearly not responsible for the incident.
I've just posted a longer piece on this subject, with connections to Buddhist thought, on my blog:
http://owmyblog.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_owmyblog_archive.html#108152029069190038
But the gist of it is this: why has the Bush administration never apologized for anything? It seems to boil down to this: Apology means responsibility means culpability means error means failure means weakness. Apology is weakness.
The problem, of course, is that apology is the ethical thing to do when you've made a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes. The Bush administration's refusal to make apology for anything points to a fundamental failing of ethics on their part.