Needless Obama Apology Costs Taxpayers At Least $1.8 Million

When Barack Obama ran for president, he claimed he would restore America’s image abroad by reversing the belligerent ways of George W. Bush, humbly apologizing for his country’s failures. Those efforts have paid off — just as this author predicted they would more than a year ago. Thanks to a needless Obama apology, the U.S. taxpayer is expected to spend $1.8 million — and may be on the hook for much more.

In the fall of 2010, Obama called the president of Guatemala to express his “deep regret” for a series of reprehensible experiments that took place — 62 years earlier, with the approval of the Guatemalan government.

From 1946-48, the U.S. Public Health Service oversaw a medical experiment designed to “test the effectiveness of penicillin” in treating syphilis by infecting nearly 700 Guatemalan prisoners, soldiers, and mental patients with the disease and subsequently treating them. For most, this meant conjugal visits with infected prostitutes. But the government ended the program suddenly and did not treat the infected.

Neither did the Guatemalan government’s socialist health care system.

As hideous as human experimentation may be, it was a joint U.S.-Guatemalan affair, with the Guatemalan government far more negligent than our own in not treating the victims.

Upon hearing of this, our anti-American president immediately dialed the phone, lachrymose apology at-the-ready. Not only did he apologize; he immortalized the moment with a PR photo. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also offered their regrets.

This author exposed in October 2010:

ABC News‘ Jake Tapper reported, “The study also was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, a forerunner of the Pan American Health Organization, and the Guatemalan government.” (Emphases added.) Reverby wrote, “Permissions were gained from the [Guatemalan] authorities but not individuals, not an uncommon practice at the time.”

Despite the repentance and their own government’s complicity in the crimes, Guatemalan officials were not appeased. “Sorry isn’t enough; we need compensation,” thundered Guatemalan lawmaker Zury Río…

The Guatemalans’ faux outrage over the tests — and demands for reparations from Uncle Yanqui — are hardly surprising. Unfortunately, they may pay off. The Obama administration has promised to launch “a thorough investigation” of the 64-year-old event (two, actually). A voluntary reparations plan may give the president cover to transfer more American wealth to the Global South, as long advocated by his Science Czar John Holdren. (Holdren also played a role in the newest developments – BJ.) Obama has said, “I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it’s Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.”

Big surprise: Guatemalans immediately seized on the apology to sue the U.S. government.

“As a result of these unethical studies, a terrible wrong has occurred. The United States is committed to taking appropriate steps to address that wrong,” the Justice Department claimed in a filing last Monday. “This lawsuit is not the proper vehicle — and this court is not the proper forum — through which the consequences of this shameful conduct may be resolved.”

Obama insisted the Guatemalan government cannot and should not sue over the experiments, saying the Federal Tort Claims Act shields the government from lawsuits over trifles with infecting people with STDs. The Dept. of Health and Human Services announced last week that it is dedicating $1.8 million to fighting sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala to stave off the lawsuits and show the United States is making up for its evil ways.

But Fox News Latino reports, “Attorneys for the Guatemalans said the immunity assertion contradicts the apologies made by Obama and his advisers.” They will press forward, probably settling their lawsuit for a higher dollar figure. (Reparacciones para todos!)

Who does America have to thank for this lawsuit? Barack Hussein Obama. Just as this author forecast more than a year ago.