Keep in mind I’m sharing Riverbend’s writing here. I put emphasis on her paragraph because I believe it to be an important aspect of the piece. I also don’t believe she intended it to be a blanket statement about Americans, though to be sure Americans and the world have failed in our attempts to stop this war; we should not refuse our piece of responsibility, however small it may be compared to that of our leaders. Riverbend is a more sophisticated thinker than to assume all Americans think in American-centric and intentionally malicious ways, so if she’s failed in making that clear, please don’t confuse that for a false belief.