"Some anti-Americanism derives simply from our being a colossus that bestrides the earth. This resentment may be incurable. But much anti-Americanism derives from the role U.S. political, economic, and military power has played in denying such freedoms to others. U.S. foreign policy has to be rethought. It needs not tweaking but overhauling. We need: a historical reckoning with crimes committed, sponsored, or permitted by the United States. [..] A country has to look back before it can move forward. Instituting a doctrine of the mea culpa would enhance our credibility by showing that American decision-makers do not endorse the sins of their predecessors. When Brandt went down on one knee in the Warsaw ghetto [in 1970], his gesture was gratifying to World War II survivors, but it was also ennobling and cathartic for Germany. Would such an approach be futile for the United States?"
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Women academics from the United StatesImmigrants to the United StatesPeople from DublinHuman rights activistsDiplomats of the United States
Original Language: English
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Article in The New Republic (2003), as quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samantha_Power
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Samantha Power
Samantha Jane Power (born 21 September 1970) is an Irish-American journalist, diplomat, and government official. She was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from 2021 to 2025. Power is a member of the Democratic Party.
3 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Samantha Power →
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