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Dear Eric Herring, "The deliberate killing of innocents is morally worse >than killing innocents as an unintended consequence". A US envoy from the State Dept. at the UN Commission on Human Rights, who I interviewed on condition of anonymity in 1999 for my thesis on the Iraqi sanctions, told me it was preferable to continue the killing of Iraqis through sanctions, because that was a clear outcome, whereas lifting the sanctions would produce an unclear outcome ie Saddam Hussein would be "out of his box". The diplomat compared the sanctions to the end phase of the Vietnam War, which the US couldn't win but feared the consequences of extricating themselves from the region. The US, he said, prefered the option of a predictable outcome: ie such and such number of deaths each week. (Yes, they really think that way...) If you know your policy is killing people, but you continue, surely there is intent? Yours sincerely, Philippa Winkler >===== Original Message From Eric Herring <Eric.Herring@bristol.ac.uk> ===== >Dear list: > >On comparing the sanctions on Iraq and the terrorist attack >on the US: > >1. The deliberate killing of innocents is morally worse >than killing innocents as an unintended consequence of the >pursuit of the guilty. In this sense, the terrorist attack >on the US is morally worse than the sanctions on Iraq. > >2. More deaths of innocents is morally worse than fewer >deaths of innocents. In this sense, the sanctions on Iraq >are morally worse than the terrorist attack on the US. > >3. In either case, deaths of innocents which one fully >anticipates are morally worse than deaths of innocents >which are unanticipated. In this sense, the terrorist >attack on the US is morally worse than the sanctions on >Iraq only to a very limited degree, as after a very short >time (a matter of less than six months at most), the >catastrophic consequences were well known to >decision-makers and have continued to be known to them. > >How one weighs these three factors is a subjective one >which produces one's overall evaluation. > >As far as condemning something while attempting to >understand it is concerned, consistency is vital here. >Whether something is right or wrong, one should attempt to >understand it. The problem here is when the ambiguous word >'understand' is used to mean not merely comprehend but also >to imply moral mitigation selectively. I condemn both the >sanctions and the terrorist attack. I also seek to >comprehend both, as part of my desire to end the sanctions >and prevent further terrorist attacks. > >As far as Just War theory is concerned with regard to a >US military response, the burden of proof regarding all its >elements (in particular a reasonable prospect that there >will be success and that the foreseeable good will not be >outweighed by the harm) is on the US government. > >In a sense there are merely statements of the obvious, but >only from a particular moral position. > > >Eric >---------------------- >Dr. Eric Herring >Department of Politics >University of Bristol >10 Priory Road >Bristol BS8 1TU >England, UK >Tel. +44-(0)117-928-8582 >Fax +44-(0)117-973-2133 >http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Politics >eric.herring@bristol.ac.uk > >-- >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq >For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk >CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.