Schrammie: Don't apologize on our behalf

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By Ken Schram

Summary

A Jesuit priest is leading an interfaith group off to Japan in order to apologize on behalf of the United States for the atomic bombings during World War II. Never mind all the lives it ended up saving on both sides by bringing a swift end to the war.

Story Published: Jul 8, 2009 at 9:50 AM PST

Schrammie: Don't apologize on our behalf
SEATTLE -- Many can gather the mantle of arrogance about them.

But few do it with the kind of pompous panache as witnessed by the following.

And so I'd like to invite Father Bill Bichsel to turn off his Geiger counter and come on down.

Father Bill's a Jesuit priest who's taken it upon himself to lead an interfaith group off to Japan in order to apologize on behalf of the United States for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Father Bill's self-styled "Journey of Repentance" includes a petition signed by peace activists that in part reads: "I apologize to the people of Japan for my country..."

How convenient for Father Bill to acknowledge the 220,000 deaths brought about by the atomic bombings while ignoring the hundreds of thousands of lives spared - both American and Japanese - by bringing the Second World War to a swifter conclusion.

Father Bill, give me 10 "Hail Mary's" and 10 "Our Fathers" for your stupidifying level of insolence in assuming that you can, or should, apologize on behalf of all Americans.

And then go ahead and take a bow, because this "Schrammie" is for you.

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