[jimbob]

wr8th:

You're right, they're probably losing sleep more over the fear of reprisal than over what they've done to their people, what a sad commentary on people in positions of power.

As to the apology thing - It seems to me that the apology is a key step in reconciliation and a return to normal, functional society. The greatest (recent) example that I can think of was the "reconciliation commission" put together in South Africa under Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (The premise was that everyone would own up to their wrong doings in a public and legal setting. In exchange for their admitance and contrition, they were guaranteed forgiveness [ie no prosecution] by the state. If you did not own up to your misdeeds by the deadline however, the state was free to prosecute) This act of national confession/forgiveness accomplished three things in my opinion.

1) wrong doers could potentially make a break with their old ways. They could admit and then be forgiven for their deeds. The other option is to be obstinant and refuse to admit ones wrong doing for the sake of self preservation.
2) victims could finally stop fighting to be heard and believed = validation.
3) the country could then move forward because there had been resolution. To see the truth of this, compare the state of South Africa and that of Zimbabwe as it pertains to race-relations.

Now, as to how this type of reconciliation and renunciation of corruption could be acheived in Argentina is beyond me... infact it seems to beyond anyone at the moment. Perhaps instead of calling in the International Monetary Gurus, they should call in people of great character (Tutu, Dali Lama, John Paul II, & others) to help resolve this mess. I believe that there are probably home-grown men of honour too.