Counterpunch #16: Does BP Deserve An Apology?

Welcome to Counterpunch! Episode #16. Today's topic: Does BP deserve an apology?

I argue that an apology is due where any entity has been harmed or wronged, and that the $20 billion extortion fund qualifies, as does the government's refusal to admit their own culpability in the affair. Sherry Walker, of Left In Alabama, uses sarcasm to argue that no apology is due at all.

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Here is transcript of my position:


Well, that depends on what they’re being apologized to for, now doesn’t it? Keep in mind, one can be guilty of a crime and still become a victim of over-zealous or overly-political law enforcement.

Should BP receive an apology for shouldering the blame on the oil leak? No, not at all. Their rig, their responsibility.

How about an apology for taking $20 billion from them, AT LEAST, with the understanding that they can still be sued by anyone who wants to? Yeah, that qualifies. The fund doesn’t satisfy any legal obligations the company experiences, all it does is give the government money to hand out to whomever they wish… like the strippers who want money because of lost business from their mostly fisherman clientele.

How about an apology from the government for not acknowledging their own role in the problem? Again, sounds reasonable. We discovered recently that the GOVERNMENT produced a document that vastly underestimated the dangers of a deepwater oil leak, and REQUIRED the oil companies to comply with the report when developing their response plans. Doesn’t the government deserve some blame for forcing oil companies to under-prepare? Yeah, they do. So they should apologize to BP for doing that.

Now, BP has and deserves to have primary responsibility and liability for the spill. But government is denying their own role and taking money from BP while they’re still trying to get things under control. For those things, an apology would not be entirely out of order.

For Politics Alabama, I am Matthew Givens