Peter Singer. An Ethic of Responsibility. Peter Singer. An Ethic of Responsibility. Free Inquiry. FebruaryMarch, 2004.

George W. Bush has often emphasized the importance of taking responsibility for the decisions one makes. "America, at its best," he has said, "is a place where personal responsibility is valued and e pected." When he was governor of !e as, he told an audience at !e as A"# $niversity% "Always remember% you are responsible for the decisions you make." !hat seems a plausible moral stance. But over the past few months, it has become difficult to understand what Bush might mean by the idea that we are responsible for our decisions. !he difficulties have arisen because of the claim Bush made in his &''( )tate of the $nion Address that *ra+ was seeking to buy uranium from Africa. Already in ,ctober, &''&, a secret -entral *ntelligence Agency .-*A/ document, the "0ational *ntelligence 1stimate on *ra+," said that "claims of *ra+i pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in 2the assessment of the )tate 3epartment4s Bureau of *ntelligence and 5esearch6 highly dubious."7 !hat month, the -*A sent two mcmos to the White 8ouse voicing doubts about the claims. ,ne went to Bush4s deputy national security adviser, )tephen 9. 8adley, and the other to his chief speechwriter, #ichael Gerson. -*A 3irector George 9. !enet also phoned 8adley before the president was to make a speech in -incinnati, on ,ctober :, asking that the allegation be removed.& 0evertheless, three months later the claim made its way into the most solemn speech that the president gives each year. By making the claim, Bush misled -ongress, the people of the $nited )tates, and the world about a central issue in the case he was making for going to war with *ra+. !hat the inclusion of the statement in the speech was an error is now universally admitted. !enet has said that the evidence for it "did not rise to the level of certainty which should be re+uired for presidential speeches."( But now the +uestion arises% who should take responsibility for this error, and what are the implications of so doing; *f Bush4s staff knew that the information in his speech was not reliable, then Bush himself should have known. *f he knew, he is, of course, as culpable as they are, and he should, at a minimum, apologize to all those he misled. *f his staff knew of the unreliability of the information and he did not, then either he had not properly instructed his staff on the importance of passing such information on to him<in which case the same apology should be forthcoming<or he had properly instructed them, and they failed to follow his instructions. *f they failed to follow his instructions, then a president who insists that we must be responsible for the decisions we make should see, on first learning of the possibility that his staff had acted improperly, that whoever was responsible for this serious error of =udgment suffered the usual conse+uences that befall senior officials or political leaders who make such mistakes. *n other words, they should be dismissed from his staff or assigned to loss important duties. Bush, however, did nothing of the sort. When the issue became public, instead of launching an investigation into what went wrong and why, Bush4s initial response was to evade +uestions about the credibility of the information he had provided by asserting that the war has had, in the removal of )addam 8ussein, a good outcome.> !hen Bush said that his speech had been cleared by the -*A, as if that absolved him of all

responsibility for it. After !enet took responsibility for the inclusion of the misleading material, Bush said that he "absolutely" had confidence in !enet and the -*A and that he considered the matter closed. When asked at a press conference why -ondolcczza 5ice .who is 8adley4s boss/ was not being held responsible for the mistaken inclusion of the statement about African uranium, he simply said% "3r. -ondoleezza 5ice is an honest, fabulous person and America is lucky to have her service. ?eriod." !here was no further e planation of her role in the matter. .5ice later admitted that she feels "personal responsibility for this entire episode," but she did not indicate that she had offered her resignation to the president.@/ !hen, asked directly if he takes personal responsibility for the inaccuracy, Bush said% "* take personal responsibility for everything * say, of course, absolutely."A When Bush urges Americans to take responsibility for their decisions, he is presumably saying that, if they avoid finding work, take drugs, or have se without using contraceptives, they must take the conse+uences. !hey should not e pect that the state will always be there to pull them out of the mess they have gotten themselves into. !hat view can be harsh, because for those born into difficult circumstances it may be a lot harder to make prudent decisions than it is for others. 0evertheless, there is something to be said about encouraging people to take responsibility for their own decisions. But if the message is to be convincing, it must be more than words. !hose who preach responsibility should show, by their actions, that they mean it and apply it to those close to them as well as to those most remote from them. otes 7. !e t of statement by George 9. !enet, 0ew Bork !imes, 9uly 7&, &''(. &. 3ana #ilbank and Walter ?incus, "Bush Aides 3isclose Warnings from -*A," Washington ?ost, 9uly &(, &''(, p. A7. (. Walter ?incus and 3ana #ilbank, "Bush, 5ice, Blame -*A for *ra+ 1rror," Washington ?ost, 9uly 7&, &''(. >. 3avid )anger and -arl 8ulse, "5epublicans 3ismiss Cuestions over Banned Weapons in *ra+," 0ew Bork, !imes, 9une 7D, &''(. @. -ondoleezza 5ice, interview on !he 0ews 8our with 9im Eehrer, as +uoted in 5ichard )tevenson, "Bush 3enies -laim 8e ,versold -ase for War with *ra+," 0ew Bork !imes, 9uly (7, &''(. A. "?resident Bush4s 5ose Garden 0ews -onference," 0ew Bork, !imes, 9uly (', &''(.