"(Bishop Tutu) said it would be “wonderful if [Mr. Obama] would apologize for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on behalf of the American people.”"
George W. is really the President responsible for the invasion, but Obama is "the man" now, and there's reason to believe that good folks around the world are ready for a new U.S. And we are ready for a new Us:
The year+ we have left in Iraq would be well spent doing things like this with the Iraqi people. They deserve it, and so do we."When individuals forgive each other, she (a clinical psychologist, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela of South Africa) said, a “transcendence of the heart begins with a recognition that gross human rights violations were committed.” This is done by telling—and listening—to stories about what happened to individuals in a particular incident.
An “empathetic repair” takes place where both perpetrator and victim are able to encounter each other’s humanity because each person has exposed him or herself “to the naked face of evil” that is within him/her.
What is most interesting in this dynamic is that through forgiveness, the perpetrator has a vehicle for expressing remorse and suddenly finds he has an opening to his conscience that he silenced long ago in order to do evil deeds. In effect, he dehumanized himself while trying to dehumanize another! By asking forgiveness, he re-engages himself with those he wronged and thus “re-captures” his lost humanity."
