In my heart I am innocent, though in reality, I am guilty.
Over a period of time, payments were made to me in return for my influence over Pentagon spending. For that I am sorry.
It’s true that I received $525,000 to pay off a second mortgage on my house. Sorry.
I received an additional $200,000 for a down payment on a Washington area condominium. So sorry.
I was given use of a $140,000 boat which its owner re-christened the “Tripp-Stir.” Sorry about that.
I received $32,508 to buy and repair a Rolls Royce. Sorry.
Someone paid $4,631 for me to spend a weekend at the Greenbrier resort. I don’t know how that happened. Sorry.
Another kind individual spent $2,081 on a graduation party for my daughter. I’m really sorry. Please believe me. I don't even have a daughter. I'm sorry about that.
Part of my plea deal included this public reckoning and apology. I’m sorry that happened.
I got caught and I'm going to jail. I’m really, really sorry.
2 comments:
Clearly, Congress needs better rules to determine exactly how much influence-buying and bribery is acceptable. Without sufficient guidelines, our elected leaders are left at the mercy of their own consciences and moral compasses.
Ultramod
GEN. RUDENKO: If you thought it possible to co-operate with Hitler, do you recognize that, as the second man in Germany, you are responsible for the organizing on a national scale of murders of millions of innocent people, independently of whether you knew about those facts or not? Tell me briefly, "yes" or "no."
Goering: No, because I did not know anything about them and did not cause them.
GEN. RUDENKO: I should like to underline again, "whether you were informed of these facts or not."
Goering: If I actually do not know them, then I cannot be held responsible for them.
GEN. RUDENKO: It was your duty to know about these facts.
Goering: I shall go into that.
GEN. RUDENKO: I am questioning you. Reply to this question: Was it your duty to know about these facts?
Goering: In what way my duty? Either I know the fact or I do not know it. You can ask me only whether I was negligent in failing to obtain knowledge.
GEN. RUDENKO: You ought to know yourself better. Millions of Germans knew about the crimes which were being perpetrated, and you did not know about them?
Goering: Neither did millions of Germans know about them. That is a statement which has in no way been proved.
Herman Goering at the Nuremberg Trials, March 22, 1946
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