Healing: The Other Side of Retribution
W. R. Grace and its executives were acquitted. That is hard to take.
The chemical products company accused of knowingly covering up facts concerning asbestos and health risks at its vermiculite mine in Libby, where a health crisis is now and has been in full bloom for years, has emerged from the trial in Missoula, Montana with no one facing jail time.
According to reports, there were many problems with the prosecution's case. There would have to be either prosecutorial incompetence or else no real case at all for an acquittal to happen in Missoula, Montana, I would think.
And so, what next for the residents of Libby? Those who have lost friends and family to disease?
There are civil cases pending against W. R. Grace still, but whether that will provide any sort of closure is hard to predict. The real question is, what can be done to ameliorate the situation now? Can anything be done?
The question of healing versus retribution is one that is much in play in our society at this time: the argument over who--if anyone--should face criminal charges for writing legal memos justifying waterboarding; the demand from Iraqis that the U.S. soldier convicted of raping and murdering an Iraqi girl and killing her family be put to death, lest all trust in America be lost. These are all questions that charge the notion of retribution with heavy political significance. I'm not going to answer these questions, but they need to be considered.
The thing to remember is that efforts at healing must be pursued no matter what happens in terms of retribution.
The chemical products company accused of knowingly covering up facts concerning asbestos and health risks at its vermiculite mine in Libby, where a health crisis is now and has been in full bloom for years, has emerged from the trial in Missoula, Montana with no one facing jail time.
According to reports, there were many problems with the prosecution's case. There would have to be either prosecutorial incompetence or else no real case at all for an acquittal to happen in Missoula, Montana, I would think.
And so, what next for the residents of Libby? Those who have lost friends and family to disease?
There are civil cases pending against W. R. Grace still, but whether that will provide any sort of closure is hard to predict. The real question is, what can be done to ameliorate the situation now? Can anything be done?
The question of healing versus retribution is one that is much in play in our society at this time: the argument over who--if anyone--should face criminal charges for writing legal memos justifying waterboarding; the demand from Iraqis that the U.S. soldier convicted of raping and murdering an Iraqi girl and killing her family be put to death, lest all trust in America be lost. These are all questions that charge the notion of retribution with heavy political significance. I'm not going to answer these questions, but they need to be considered.
The thing to remember is that efforts at healing must be pursued no matter what happens in terms of retribution.
posted by Devin at 1:14 PM
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