Sadly, people are almost limitless in their ability to excuse their own behavior.
“Judge, I can’t be remorseful for something I don’t think I did,” Tom DeLay, just prior to sentencing for his conviction on money laundering and conspiracy.
“…I have done nothing wrong.” Martha Stewart, upon conviction on all charges.
“My integrity is intact.” Joseph F. Berardino, CEO Arthur Andersen, now defunct.
“I believe that no one will conclude that I engaged in any criminal or fraudulent conduct.” Bernard Ebbers, CEO WorldCom, largest bankruptcy in history.
“We would not put our clients at risk with something like that,” Gene Frauenheim, managing partner Arthur Andersen, now defunct.
“I regret nothing…I did nothing wrong.” In Sopheap, senior official of the Khmer Rouge on his involvement in the slaughter of 1,700,000 Cambodians.
“I cut him open from the chest to the stomach and he screamed terribly, and his face was all twisted in agony. He made this unimaginable sound, he was screaming so horribly. But, then finally he stopped. This was all in a day’s work for the surgeons …” medical assistant in the Japanese Imperial Army’s Unit 731, Japan’s biological weapons testing facility during World War II.
