Re: [WAR/IRAQ] American POW's

From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Mar 26 2003 - 11:43:20 MST

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    Lee Corbin wrote:

    >Cory writes
    >
    > ...
    >
    >>So, here, most Iraqis must know that they cannot win
    >>against any one of the coalition nations in an all out
    >>war, let alone all of them. If to them, being overrun
    >>by the infidels or western imperialists, or whatever
    >>association the may rightly or wrongly have, is the
    >>worst fate, then they logically must do anything they
    >>can to circumvent this.
    >>
    >>
    >
    >"Anything"? You are putting forth the interesting
    >thesis that any act is justified in order to avoid
    >losing a war. There are pluses to this view, and
    >minuses.
    >
    >
    ...

    >Lee
    >
    >
    Justified is an interesting word. Perhaps a better term would be "an
    expected reaction". I don't see much on either side that is
    justifiable, in any absolute sense. In a more limited sense,
    self-defense is normally recognized as legitimate. But as to what
    should be an expected reaction... here we get back to theft being a
    hanging offense. If they see they have nothing to loose, then one
    should expect them to do all they can, for revenge if not for victory.
    Once you have killed their children, most people would have few scruples
    at violating normal ethics to achieve revenge. It's one of the most
    powerful motivators that people have. (In the bible "Vengence is mine,
    saith the Lord", particularlly to eliminate it as a legitimate ethical
    basis for one individual revenging himself on another.) So you had
    better expect it if you go in for mass bombing of civilian locations.
    And we haven't been as scrupulous as we were claiming we would be. So
    we had better expect extreme reactions by some reasonable fraction of
    the populace.

    In short, they've got good reason to hate our guts. (Thank you, Mr.
    President.)

    -- 
    -- Charles Hixson
    Gnu software that is free,
    The best is yet to be.
    


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