Hi Jonathan
Sorry for the delay in replying.
Rather than get bogged down in red-herrings I would go back to the two major
points on which I disagreed with Platt and which you appeared to be in general
agreement - although I could be misinterpreting your position and if so apologise in
advance.
The first point being that human beings, of whatever kind, may not reasonably be
regarded as the moral equivalent of germs.
My second point is that it is hypocrisy to treat one group of countries ( the 'Allies' ) in
one way whilst treating another group of countries ( the 'Enemy' ) in another way for
exactly the same behaviour.
This all comes from Platt's statement:
> PLATT:
> "I interpret the MOQ view to be that those who are terrorists and those
> countries who support and/or tolerate terrorists have the moral standing
> of germs and like germs must be deliberately and ruthlessly annihilated
> by all means at our disposal."
I find it difficult to comprehend how anyone with a grasp of Lila and the MoQ can
seriously entertain the idea of the moral equivalence of a germ and a human. This is
risible.
It would appear from the above quote that either the use of terrorism and the support
of terrorist groups is wrong or it is not.
Apparently the further deaths of half a million children (and a further million adults) by
imposition of sanctions is a reasonable price to pay (according to Madeleine
Albright) in order to remove Saddam Hussein from power when an army was within
a few miles of Baghdad and could have achieved this end. This is apparently not
terrorism.
The continued bombing of Iraq is also acceptable and is also not terrorism.
The use and support of a group of terrorists (Contra's) to overthrow a democratically
elected government and to pay for this by illegal sales of arms (to Iran) is also
apparently OK and presumably is not terrorism or the support of terrorism.
The toleration and protection of terrorists and terrorist affiliated groups (IRA and
NORAID) by the USA apparently does qualify the USA as part of the above group.
On 9 Oct 2001 at 22:41, Jonathan B. Marder wrote:
> Terrorism must be confronted on ALL
> levels, and that must include the use of appropriate military force. You
> know something Horse, when you and your own family are facing your own
> terrorist threat close to home, remind me to ask you again . . .
You can ask me now Jonathan. I lived, worked and partied in London until 1990 and
during that time there were a number of terrorist attacks.
Twice I came within a few minutes of being killed or seriously injured.
The first time when a bomb went off in Oxford street a hundred yards from where I
worked. I had entered the underground (subway) station less than 5 minutes before
the bomb exploded and had walked past the bomb on my way to the station.
The second time was the Harrods bomb and I had driven past Harrods on a
motorbike about 5 minutes before that one went off (I even heard the explosion).
Other events such as the location of Hyde Park bomb was on my route home from
work and the City of London bomb and the Isle of Dogs bomb were both within
areas where I had worked and known people.
So I am not acting out of ignorance of the consequences and effects of terrorist
actions and would say that I abhor this sort of wanton violence. But from both a
practical and moral point of view see military action as a pointless and retrograde
action. This should not be confused with a pacifist position just in case anyone feels
like accusing me of such. It will not stop the violence and in many cases gives the
terrorists exactly what they want - which is the escalation of violence.
Can you give me a relatively recent example of military action against terrorists that
has resulted in the destruction of the terrorist group. The normal scenario is that the
terrorists become part of the established social pattern through negotiation and/or
achieve their ends of domination.
Let me know
Horse
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