Here’s a puzzle for you. Gaddafi kills thousands of Arabs—his own people—and the US responds by bombing his nation, hoping to change policy or even overthrow the regime, killing civilians in the process. This is called “humanitarianism.”
The US government kills many thousands of Arabs—in addition to some of its own people—and Osama bin Laden responds by attacking the US, hoping to change policy or even overthrow the regime, killing civilians in the process. This is called “terrorism.”
People will accuse me of “moral equivalence”—i.e., the sin of pointing out that when the U.S. government intentionally commits an act of violence that predictably kills innocent people, it is morally comparable to anyone else intentionally committing an act of violence that predictably kills innocent people. Go ahead and accuse me of that. But what sickens me is that people are bickering over what we might call the “Obama doctrine,” the “Bush doctrine,” and the “Clinton doctrine”—as opposed to the “bin Laden doctrine” and the “Gaddafi doctrine”—as though it matters much to the loved ones of those who were slaughtered by any of these political leaders.
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