I do not believe in collective guilt. I do not believe I am responsible for what happened in Haditha, and I feel no guilt over it. I also don't think all Germans were Nazis, all Russians were responsible for the gulags and mass killings, nor do I believe all Islam is responsible for the terrorism that happened on 9/11.
I've read several diaries where it is suggested we are all to blame for Haditha, as well as just about everything else that has happened in America since Bush took office. I don't feel that way. And so this is just a rant.
Soldiers held the guns that killed innocent civilians. They are responsible for this incident. Their superiors are responsible as well, as they trained these soldiers. The Bush Administration, especially Rumsfeld and Cheney, are responsible for the policies that led to this big fat mess.
It's been written that our soldiers are bearing the brunt of this war while the rest of us sit at home and party, that the nation has made no sacrifices for this war on terror. I agree we have made no sacrifices, and I think that has hurt us more than we know. I have been angry ever since 9/11, when I was told to go shopping as the only way to help after an attack that hurt my city of New York. The frustration has been overwhelming at times. We can do a lot as individuals, but some things require a national will, a group effort, and that will never happen under this Administration.
But I don't have any patience with going to the other extreme, either, the pop psychology of collective guilt. That assumes we have responsibility without authority, which is no responsibility at all. This tyranny has been planned for decades, and it is important, I believe, to keep the blame squarely where it belongs -- on those who have acted to destroy our country, willingly and with full knowledge of what they were doing.
I read a book by Ron Rosenbaum called Explaining Hitler. In it, he very effectively debunks the theory that all Germans complacently allowed Hitler to come to power. He spoke of courageous journalists who fought until the end to expose this monster and who were cold-bloodedly killed for their efforts or forced to flee into exile. There was plenty of protest, and it was shut down by many means, murder being a favored one, as well as forced imprisonment.
It's easy to smooth over the reality of people intentionally doing wrong by using the discredited "bleeding heart liberal" notion that we all are to blame, that we all are responsible for everything that happens. I don't buy it. If we believe that, then there is no justice, no progress, no reason to have laws. Since the evil committed in 2000 that led to the Bush Presidency, there have been many brave men and women who have stood up and opposed this awful Administration. And now more and more people are beginning to see what many of us here have known all along -- that Bush and his gang mean us harm, mean America harm.
Do we have faults, as citizens? Sure, I'd never claim otherwise. But did we send these young men and women to Iraq? No, we did not. Every representative in Congress and the Senate has to live with that decision, even many who did not realize at the time that voting to authorize the use of force meant that Bush and his gang would use that authority to lie to the American people and prosecute a preemptive war against someone who never attacked us.
But the blame rests squarely upon this Administration's shoulders, and no one else's. The soldiers who performed such hellish atrocities in Haditha will have to live with their actions as well. If there are mitigating factors we will, hopefully, find that out (though I am doubtful given the lies and secrecy of the government). The families of the Iraqis who were so viciously killed are not interested in PTSD or whether or not Americans feel badly about their loss. They just grieve. It is a big mess and shouldn't be explained, not with the simplistic psychology of "it's everyone's fault."
So yes, this is a rant. I'll do whatever I can as a citizen to get rid of this Administration. I've contributed money to progressive candidates, spoken to everyone I know to try to open their eyes to what is going on, and whatever else presents itself to me, I'll do. But I am not responsible for what this group of bums in Washington have done. And I think it's important to remember that none of us are, and that taking up a guilt that isn't ours will not help make America better.