Once you buddy up to killers you cannot allow yourself to take their criminality too seriously. This apology does not take the form of words. It takes the form of deeds. This is something we have seen in every administration since Nixon. Making little speeches about human rights, at indecent intervals, is nothing.
Business continues day by day, and the words of criticism ring ever hollow.
The situation in personal life is the same for national life. In business and in friendship, an association of any kind with criminal persons erodes our own morality and credibility. When you make deals with gangsters you are compromised. In 1973 the Nixon administration was anxious to sign a peace treaty to end the Vietnam War. This anxiousness led to a policy of haste in which special care was not taken for American servicemen unaccounted for.