Keywords

War Crimes

Politics

In a recent post I briefly alluded to the nasty bile spewing forth from the pen of Alan Dershowitz. Bile that is even more disturbing when you comprehend the actual policies resulting from such logic. Since then a number of the blogs I read have responded to Dershowitz, (see Crooked Timber, Easily Distracted, and Informed Comment) but it is billmon at Whiskey Bar who struck the right note with this clever remix:

The news is filled these days with reports of civilian casualties, comparative civilian body counts and criticism of Germany, along with its enemies, for causing the deaths, injuries and collective punishment” of human beings. But just who is human” in the age of terrorism, when Polish and Russian partisans don’t wear uniforms, don’t belong to regular armies and easily blend into civilian populations?

And, just in case you think the comparison is unfair, please answer this question from the eminently sensible Timothy Burke:

to try and categorically justify what’s happening on the logic that some civilians are less civilians, that they’re all legitimate targets: how is that different from terrorism?

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