The US has to be punished somehow

Montblanc  Updated: 2004-05-13 10:01

There is a lot of discussion about the sincerity of President Bushes and his Secretary Rumsfelds apology for the Iraq tortures. This is only a sidelight. The principal issue is, and stays, the whole unlawful US and "Allied" occupation of Iraq, Thus, the expressed "sorrow" is by far not enough, be it sincere or not. The US has to be punished somehow, by reparations payments, or "class action" suits.

There is a clear collective guilt of all a Americans and thus every American has to carry its part, if necessary by adequate financial and other kind of reparations. Reparations not only to the Iraqi victims, but to all damaged parties, including Europeans who suffer from the misuse of "Western Values" during and after the American invasion of Iraq.

The degree of collective responsibility in democracies for acts of their government raises with the quality of the democracy. As the Americans claim to have the best democracy, the Americans must also bear the highest collective responsibility This is the counterpart of the rights and duties of every voter.

As a German national I was faced all along my long life with the collective responsibility of Germany in WW2 and the Jewish holocaust. This despite the fact that I was living in neutral Switzerland and having had only age 8 at the beginning und 14 at the end of war.

The claimants of collective responsibility where very often Americans. I took the collective responsibility, as tiny as I had been, by taking responsibility fort the future of Europe, instead of the past. This give me the moral right to ask the same now from the American people.

Why should American Bush voters slip out of their responsibility of having elected the present regime. This responsibility goes as much for the Bush voters, as for the abstentionists and even for the opponents, as in the US democracy it is the majority who shapes the policy, as tiny the majority may be.

In contrast to other democracies in Europe and elsewhere, there is in the US not enough attenuation for the possibility that a government turns wild and/or irresponsible.

This has to be considered a very bad systemic flaw in the US democracy.

As the majority of Americans seem to bow only to money, maybe a new class action ( collective court action) is the course follow.

I would immediately subscribe to a class action for tort to all the innocent "Westerners" being hurt in their moral, financial and sometimes physical integrity by the bad deeds of the United States in Iraq.

A class action would also be a means to open the Iraqi (and other) "Pandora's Box" by a good set of private lawyers, and it would completely fit into the American System itself, as there are other Class actions hanging, just to mention the actions of descendants of former African slaves, native Indians, of Hawaiians and many other American victims.

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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