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Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Context 

Why did this happen? Because this also happened. The tactics of the enemy are to blame for the civilian casualties inflicted by American soldiers. If the enemy wore uniforms and fought by the rules of war, there would be virtually no innocent deaths in Iraq.

CWCID: Rob A.

UPDATE: Israel is also investigating its soldiers, in this case for treating Palestinian corpses disrespectfully, as well it should. It is instructive that these isolated cases of abuse on the part of the United States and Israel receive such condemnation in the press, both Arab and Western, even though the nations involved act responsibly by investigating and prosecuting the offenders. At the same time, neither the Arab nor the Western media seems the least bit interested in condemning far more barbaric acts by Arab soldiers, which are never investigated or prosecuted. Is this because the press has such contempt for Arabs that it never even entertains the idea that they should be held to the laws of war? If this is not the explanation, what is it?

1 Comments:

By Blogger Gordon Smith, at Wed Nov 17, 10:21:00 PM:

Jack,

I read your post just after reading THIS POST at Baghdad Burning.

The armed resistance in Iraq isn't going to wear uniforms, and the images floated across their TV screens (from Abu Ghraib to 'Bring 'em on' to Mission Accomplished to the present) are building the next generation of America haters.

The war is a complete effing mess. I've yet to read a logical strategy to end it. It's a whirlpool of death.

They act barbarously. We act barbarously. They defy democracy. We defy the Geneva Conventions and the Rule of Law. Who are the good guys here?

I wish I could put my faith in American Exceptionalism, the idea that what we're doing is right because we're America. But I don't see it here. I see a morass.

It's just awful. How do you see it all ending?  

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