From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Mon Sep 30 2002 - 08:53:09 MDT
> Sanctions are the price that the Iraqi people are paying for not
> having removed Sadaam as their "leader".
>
That is so utterly disgusting that I will not even address it.
- samantha
------------------
Why is it too disgusting to address? I would be interested in hearing some
arguments that absolve the people of a nation of the responsibility of a
government which they support initiating force against another nation. Some
of the arguments I have come across that suggest the people are, at least in
part, responsible (and thus not entirely innocent) include...
1) If by neglect, ignorance, or helplessness, they couldn't overturn their
bad government and choose a better one, then they have to pay the price for
the sins of their government-as all of us are paying for the sins of ours.
If some people put up with dictatorship-as some do in Soviet Russia and as
they did in Germany-they deserve whatever their government deserves.
2) If, however, in waging war our government considers the deaths of
civilians in terrorist states as a cost that must be
weighed against the deaths of our own soldiers or civilians, or as a cost
that must be weighed against achieving victory over the enemy, our
government thereby violates its most basic function. It becomes not an agent
for our self-defense, but theirs. to deter us from defending ourselves.
3) The responsibility for all deaths in war lies with the aggressor who
initiates force, not with those who defend themselves.
4) Civilians in enemy states contribute their work and economic production,
however meager, to the continuation of their government and so are in part
responsible for the continued power of aggressor nations.
5) The civilians in enemy territory who actually oppose their dictatorial,
terrorist governments are usually their governments'
first innocent victims. Any such individuals who remain alive and outside of
prison camps should try to flee their country or fight with the victim of
their governments aggressive action.
6) And the truly innocent who live in countries that initiate force against
other nations will acknowledge the moral right of a free nation to bomb
their countries and destroy their governments - even if this jeopardizes
their own lives.
7) It is an inescapable fact that children benefit or suffer according to
their parents' decisions. Until a child can support himself and make his
own rational choices, he lives with his parents' choice of religion,
country, housing, food, clothing. This fact of life makes it even more
important for parents who love their children to be conscientious about the
type of government they support. And if they support a government that
initiates an act of force the parents are to blame for the deaths of the
children in an act of self defense from a nation that their own government
has initiated force against.
Regards,
Michael
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