Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Op/Ed on White Phosphorus: Shake & Bake

NYTimes: Let us pause and count the ways the conduct of the war in Iraq has damaged America's image and needlessly endangered the lives of those in the military: 1) Multilateralism was tossed aside. 2) The post-invasion fiasco muddied the reputation of military planners and caused unnecessary casualties. 3)The WMD myth undermined the credibility of US intelligence and Bush himself, and 4) The abuse of prisoners stole America's moral high ground. Now the use of a ghastly weapon called white phosphorus has raised questions about how careful the military has been in avoiding civilian casualties. It has also further tarnished America's credibility on internatl treaties and the rules of warfare. The US restricted the use of incendiaries like WP after Vietnam, and in 1983, an internatl convention banned its use against civilians. In fact, 1 of the many crimes ascribed to Saddam was dropping WP on Kurdish rebels and civilians in '91. The US should be leading the world, not dragging its feet, when it comes to WP or torture - because it's right and because all of us, including Americans, are safer in a world in which certain forms of conduct are regarded as too inhumane even for war.
Posted by Tina :: 12:11 AM :: 0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---------------------------------------