Obama: The U.S. ‘Must Have the Courage to Acknowledge’ Its Role in Rights Abuses

President Obama said in a press conference this morning that the United States "must have the courage to acknowledge" its role in the human rights abuses during Argentina's "dark days." 

"There's been controversy about the policies of the United States early in those dark days," Obama said. "And the United States, when it reflects on what happened here, has to examine its own policies as well. And its own past. Democracies must have the courage to acknowledge when we don't live up to the ideals we stand for.

"We have been slow to speak out on human rights, and that was the case here," he said.