Comments by "Mat Broomfield" (@matbroomfield) on "Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi killed in Syria - BBC News" video.
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@yoloswaggins7121 Nope, again, your logic is faulty. If one terrorist responsible for 100,000 deaths uses a human shield - especially one consisting of his own family, it's a lesser of two evils situation. Why should the people fighting him risk THEIR lives simply to meet YOUR sense of morality? Fighting on the ground is MUCH more risky. If I was the partner of a US soldier killed on the ground, knowing they could have just drone striked the whole building, I'd be outraged at the loss.
Again, the point that you are missing IN THIS CASE, is that these civilians were his FAMILY. HE was the one that placed them in the fire zone. America simply pulled the trigger.
Civilians were NOT targeted - they happened to be in kill zone. That's HIS fault. I passionately HATE that children were killed, but do you think that they were ever going to grow up to be peaceful, democracy loving adults?
Terrorists frequently specifically TARGET civilians - that's often what terrorism is all about - creating a sense of terror among the populace to bring about political pressure for action.
And again, with Hiroshima, your comparison is totally faulty. Neither Hiroshima OR Nagaaki were MILITARY targets so there is no collateral damage justification. The US uses a lesser of two evils argument, but even if you considered murdering 100,000 people to be a fair exchange to get a single nation out of the war, Japan was already making overtures to surrender. That was a crime against humanity AND terrorism pure and simple. Which is why America constantly waves the Geneva convention at its enemies but refuses to be bound by its terms itself.
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@yoloswaggins7121 No soldier (or policeman) signs up to take NEEDLESS risks.
Yes, killing innocent children is unfair. War is unfair. Terrorism is unfair. If they don't like their kids getting killed, don't become a terrorist.
Yes, I am absolutely talking about this case. You don't seriously believe he blew himself up do you? They dropped a bomb on the house from altitude then went in on the ground. And I'm 100% satisfied with that, because he was a terrorist. Then they tried to make it that HE killed all those people to appease well meaning liberals like you who are high on morality and low of prosaic practicality.
In any action where civilians may become collateral damage, there is a cost benefit equation. Blowing up an entire hospital in Gaza because a single terrorist may be inside is outrageous. However, if half the hierarchy of Hamas were being treated there, then killing 100 innocent civilians could save the lives of thousands more so a reasonable exchange.
The reason I didn't answer your Kabul attack was because it was going to take us down a whole lot of routes about the justification of terrorism as a tactic in the first place. I absolutely DO think it's justified. It's the weapon of the underdog. The Taliban had zero chance fighting toe to toe with America, yet they still forced them to withdraw. They fought smart. We can debate whether or not they are good people, but they had more right to be there than America did.
I say this with respect, but idealists like you are all very well meaning in principle, thinking in absolutes and high-minded morality, but when yuo've been around a while, you realise that the world doesn't work like that. If you throw your soldiers lives away cheaply to protect the lives of terrorist families, you'd lose the political fight at home, and the confidence of the troops. That's EXACTLY what happened with Vietnam. America was on the verge of WINNING militarily, but the media footage of body bags and mass student protests, meant that the government, that was more concerned about its OWN survival, caved to public sentiment and withdrew.
You cannot operate a war by public approval, which is why journalist access in Iraq was so restricted.
And yes, I 100% think that killing 1 innocent child to kill a terrorist who has killed 10s of thousands is a fair trade.
I suspect that you would be the one faced with the trolley problem, would choose to kill 10 because you refused to take the action that would kill 1. Ultimately, that is a failing of YOUR reasoning. Morality isolated from real world practicality is useless.
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