The Lord can not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance… men don’t have that luxury. In the secular world the good is measured against the bad… in that analysis the US is a net generator of good… not a net generator of perfection.

The often unspoken goal of those who want the US to appologize is to destroy the US and undo the good (and by some measures they are succeeding). I have no doubt that the world would be a much worse place had the US never existed. ( see also the restoration of gospel)

The church never got an appology or redress of their grievance for the atrocities they suffered before the exodus to the rocky mountains, but you dont see the brethren holding grudges. Perhaps we should do like wise.

Even with that all said I do have a few quibbles with your historical examples.

The civil war was a war for union not to end slavery. The end of slavery was a beneficial but unintended consequence (see Lincoln’s first inaugral address).

And the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki is only on your list because its a touch stone for america haters.This was not done as you suggest as deliberate retalliation against civillians for an attack on our military. It was done to shorten the war and avoid millions more japanese civillian casualties that would have been likely in the even of an invasion fo the Japanese home islands.

PS. Dozens of civillian population centers were deliberately destroyed by various means by parties on both sides of the war (see also the rape of nanking, Dresden, the London blitz, LeMay’s B-29 campaign). It was a war silly. Nobody intheri right mind likes war… but once you in one the best thing to do is to get it over with ASAP.

The Lord can not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance… men don’t have that luxury. In the secular world the good is measured against the bad… in that analysis the US is a net generator of good… not a net generator of perfection.

The often unspoken goal of those who want the US to appologize is to destroy the US and undo the good (and by some measures they are succeeding). I have no doubt that the world would be a much worse place had the US never existed. ( see also the restoration of gospel)

The church never got an appology or redress of their grievance for the atrocities they suffered before the exodus to the rocky mountains, but you dont see the brethren holding grudges. Perhaps we should do like wise.

Even with that all said I do have a few quibbles with your historical examples.

The civil war was a war for union not to end slavery. The end of slavery was a beneficial but unintended consequence (see Lincoln’s first inaugral address).

And the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki is only on your list because its a touch stone for america haters.This was not done as you suggest as deliberate retalliation against civillians for an attack on our military. It was done to shorten the war and avoid millions more japanese civillian casualties that would have been likely in the even of an invasion fo the Japanese home islands.

PS. Dozens of civillian population centers were deliberately destroyed by various means by parties on both sides of the war (see also the rape of nanking, Dresden, the London blitz, LeMay’s B-29 campaign). It was a war silly. Nobody intheri right mind likes war… but once you in one the best thing to do is to get it over with ASAP.

“Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of THIS secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto IT, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon IT, and also upon those who built IT up.
“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth IT up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and IT bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for IT is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies;” (Ether 8:24–25, emphasis mine).

Notice in this passage that Mormon is not speaking in general anymore about secret combinations; he is talking about one in particular. Can it be denied that we live in the times foreseen by Mormon? Of course, the devil’s secret combinations have been around since the beginning, depriving people of their freedom; but never has it been on a global scale, nor as insidious.

God expects us to defend our freedoms when we must, but, as in the days of the Nephites, it is His coming alone that will bring about ultimate victory. I would like to see a restoration of freedom and liberty, but the scriptures are clear that the situation will deteriorate to utter chaos, until the only hope will be the Savior’s return.

“And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God;
“And the glory of the Lord will be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion.
“And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.
“And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.
“And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.
“And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy” (D&C 45:66–71).

“And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a FULL END OF ALL NATIONS;” (D&C 87:6, emphasis mine).

Will the day come when freedom-lovers have to gird on their armor and take up arms? I don’t know; I hope not, but we’d be fools not to be prepared, spiritually and temporally. Don’t forget the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.

This issue becomes emotionally clouded, for while we grieve and become angered over the persecution and enslavement of people in foreign lands, military intervention to solve the the problem often causes unintended consequences worst that the crime we are trying to rectify. War often creates a new power vacuum, which produces even greater tyrants and atrocities. One has to only look how our erstwhile ally, Uncle Joe Stalin, became a greater monster than the one we disposed. Or how Laos and Cambodia were dragged into the Vietnam conflict, resulting in Pol Pot gaining power and killing 2 million plus of his own people. Right now, we have cost more US lives avenging the deaths of 9/11, and have lost more individual freedom in the name of preserving it.

Which reform took 100 years after the end of the civil war–which was anything but civil. No other country in the world had to go to war to end slavery–but we did. And still the blacks were treated as second class citizens by the same northerners who upheld the Dread Scott decision, and forced Harriet Tubman to route escaped slaves to Canada to prevent being returned to the South. It took MLK to bring them the full constitutional freedom that Lincoln was reluctant to given them–After all, Liberia was set up by Lincoln as a means to ship them back.

But I do agree in part, that apologies are not what’s needed, but a humble attitude to stop trying to make the world safe for democracy. Why do we have to protect our “interests” abroad?–Which, as Smedly Butler correctly pointed out, are only businessmen s’ interests?

Our interests should center on minding our own business. The BOM bears witness of what happened when the Nephites left their borders to avenge themselves against the Laminates. Can you imagine Moroni doing a preemptive attack into Laminate (Not-captured Nephite) homeland? We should have learned from their mistake, which led to their destruction.

In talking just about some sort of duty to apologize we’re already halfway to his position. As if that’s all we need to “wash our hands”.

Are America’s hands still stained from slavery because “we” haven’t apologized for it? The reforms that ended slavery meant a whole lot more than sending a card with some flowers.

And if there’s any sort of private, individual responsibility left over from the structural racism of the past, following the commandment to love our neighbors should take care of the rest.

We have sowed the wind, and now must reap the whirlwind.