The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #69284   Message #1179455
Posted By: Jim McCallan
06-May-04 - 10:35 AM
Thread Name: BS: American Soldiers Torturing Iraqis
Subject: RE: BS: American Soldiers Torturing Iraqis
I understand that, Art, and I read the sentence with the 'and' in place. It is just a point of definition, I was talking about. The ex regime of Saddam H should not, in my opinion, be used as a yardstick to measure how 'brutal' the Coalition is allowed to be.
If we are going to just take into account the 'present enemy', then, I think it would be debatable whether they have committed as much atrocity as we have. The Shia and Sunni militia are not credited with any part in the planning or execution of 9/11, so I'm searching around (in vain, I might add) for an action (or actions) they have carried out that has killed over 11 000 Americans.

There are a few present day war crimes happening in Iraq, Saddam's ex regime, notwithstanding. That is what we should be focusing on. The understanably upset Iraqis, are just that; understandably upset. If we are to look at what we do in Iraq, and keep comparing it to 'our enemies', we bring ourselves to their level, and that can provide us with carte blanche to do anything that falls short of what our enemies do.

And in that, my 'focusing' on Wolfgang's statement was entirely contextual.

Jim