June 11, 2012

AND DO THE KIM REGIME THE SAME DAY:

Trying to Kill Bashar al-Assad Not So Radical Given U.S. Security Interests (Peter Beinart, Jun 11, 2012, Daily Beast)

[I]t's hard to discern any principle that distinguishes killing Assad from the targeted assassinations and humanitarian wars that command significant American political support. A key principle of just-war theory is the principle of discrimination: You should tailor your violence as narrowly as possible. Some justify drone strikes on exactly those grounds: They hurt fewer people than the full-scale invasions the U.S. launched in Afghanistan and Iraq. The same principle applies to sanctions: Most people would agree that sanctions that target a ruling elite are preferable to ones that affect an entire people. If that's the case, then why isn't it preferable to target Assad personally instead of bombing Syrian conscripts, or Syrian civilians, in order to bring down his regime?


Establishing the principle that dictators are fair game is entirely worthwhile.

Posted by at June 11, 2012 6:08 AM
  

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