It's time for President Obama to make an official apology for all we've done to Latin America

[Ken Burch]

All the coups. All the blockades. All the intervention. All the coercion.

He did that for the coup we staged in Iran in '53...it's equally necessary to do that here.

Nothing we ever did to impose our will on the peoples of this hemisphere was ever acceptable.

We should just have left them alone.

And we should just leave them alone now.

Is that too much to ask?

[madrchsod]

1. yes it is....espically since it`s still going on..

[lumpy]

4. Maybe, this intervention has been going on since Teddy

Roosevelt was in office, maybe longer. We have have been interfering in Africa, also, for too damn long. Some things never change and it is all about greed mixed with power.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Timely reminder

Epecially given the events and aftermath of 11th September 1973.

[Luminous Animal]

3. The apology would sound rather hollow since we are still imposing our will in Latin America.

[Ken Burch]

5. There are people unrec'ing THIS?

I don't care what anybody says about me, but unrec'ing the basic argument of this thread is insane.

How can anyone think anything we've done to Latin America since the enunciation of the "Monroe Doctrine" could ever have been justified?

Our leaders have never stood with the poor or the workers in the nations of this hemisphere. All that they've done has been about preserving the power of the rich. That's all "anticommunism" was ever about.

Why SHOULDN'T we admit it was all totally wrong? Why shouldn't we vow, as a nation, never to do any of it again?

It's not as if we had to fight for the wealthy and powerful just to keep our nation "safe".

[inna]

19. Obama is an enforcer of the Monroe doctrine. Expecting him to apologize is unrealistic.

[Ken Burch]

21. He doesn't NEED to enforce the Monroe Doctrine anymore

And that doctrine was never legitimate...the United States never HAD any right to treat this hemisphere as its own empire. The only reason we did was the arrogant notion that English-speaking Protestant countries were naturally superior to Spanish-, Creole- or Portuguese-speaking Catholic countries.

We're past that notion now. And there's nobody out there who's even trying to "take over the hemisphere" in the name of a non-hemispheric power.

[bemildred]

6. We are not that mature yet. nt

[indepat]

7. But, but the Monroe Doctrine made it clear this hemisphere was America's alone to

shepard or, as apparently later interpreted, to do as we damn please with impunity. :shrug: :patriot:

[Ken Burch]

8. When you use the phrase "to shephard"....

remember what becomes of the sheep.

[JoePhilly]

9. Why today? I thought our focus was JOBS!!!!!

Or is this just today's "Obama Bad" distraction?

[Ken Burch]

10. Not "Obama Bad"..."Obama could be really GOOD"

And doing this is not in conflict with creating jobs. Few if any jobs have been created through the misery we've inflicted on the nations south of us.

[mfcorey1]

11. This President does not need to open another can of worms. He gets complaints about what is already

on his agenda. Let congress do some of the apologizing since they never do anything.

[Ken Burch]

12. Noboby who'd object to an apology and a renuciation of those tactics

would agree with anything Obama's trying to do. It's a no-cost method of doing the right thing.

Everything we ever did to Latin America was wrong. We never had the right to demand that the hemisphere obey us and give its wealth to our corporations rather than use it for the good of it own peoples.

None of it is defensible.

[Indykatie]

13. By All Means Add Something Else to Obama's Plate

Gives folks one more thing to complain about him not having done.

[Ken Burch]

15. It's something he could do in five minutes, at no political risk

And Congress couldn't stop him...it's "win win".

There's no reason to NOT at least completely break from the status quo on THIS issue. There isn't a center on this issue.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. So if he already gets complaints, a few more complaints from the right wing are no big deal

:shrug:

[Ken Burch]

22. True. Why bother appeasing the last surviving Henry Kissinger groupies?

n/t.

[bvar22]

14. I really don't care if he apologizes.

I would be happy if he would just stop funding the Right Wing Death Squad Puppet Government in Colombia,
and pledge to support the REAL Democracies emerging in Latin America
instead of demonizing them every chance he gets.

VIVA Democracy!
...and fair, transparent, verifiable elections monitored & certified by International Watch Dogs!
I hope we get some here soon!


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ken Burch]

16. I'm with you on what this too, of course.

n/t.

[bvar22]

18. I know.

Just Piggy Backing on your OP for some fun.

:toast:



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ken Burch]

20. Feel free.

n/t.