[Eric]

I think that the question is too broad ... If asked, should the Americans apologize to the blacks for slavery, or the British should apologize to the same people for shipping them to America, I would say no. It was too long ago, and values were different, hell people just plain thought differently. I don't think that the "sins of the fathers thing" makes any sense. But, what about things done fairly recently? What about when the victims are still alive and suffering from being a "victimized" minority? What about "crimes" against humanity, where the perps are still around to answer for their crimes? I believe that this is a different case, but still under the heading "are we to blame?" But I still think that the blame should be shouldered, not by the citizens, but by governments on whose watch the s**t happened, and by those directly involved. For example, in Canada, thousands of First Nations children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools, whr the attempt was made to turn them into "civilized" whites. Many of them were subject to physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Canadian govts admit that past (not so very past) govts are to blame. And "teachers" from these schools, many of them belonging to religious groups, are being held to account.

Another brief point: who is going to apologize to the people of Iraq for the mess their country is in?