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reporter
bias
—why do reporters imagine that they are a special case?
“He said: "Killing journalists either deliberately or by
gross negligence should be made official war crimes under international
law."”
Will this apply to deaths by drunken driving?
Will it only apply to ‘journalists’?
“Please sir, could I see your press card? You see, if I kill a
‘peace activist’ or an ‘innocent bystander’ by
‘gross negligence’, it is less serious than if I do in a ‘journalist’”
“ And just in case sir, can I take it you are not in any other specially
protected category, I sure would not like to be dun for a hate crime as
well as a war crime!”
We clearly need a tariff so as the judge gets it right :
- 3 years if you do in a common or garden variety
- doubled if it is either a ‘journalist’ or a ‘protected
person’
- and re-doubled if it is both.
Reporters have a strange view that reports about reporters are more significant
than reports about ‘real people’.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics040503
|
04.05.2003 |
| an
advanced civilisation meets the dark ages—contrasting behaviour
It is estimated that the Ba’ath Socialist Party leader, Madsam,
has been responsible for approximately 2 million deaths, and has caused
approximately 4 million refugees.
| Coalition orders: |
kill as few Iraqis as possible. |
| Madsam’s orders: |
kill as many Americans as possible |
And a speech given by a commander to his troops preparing to free Iraq:
“THE enemy should be in no doubt that we are his Nemesis and that we
are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional
commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires
of Hell for Saddam. As they die they will know their deeds have brought
them to this place. Show them no pity. But those who do not wish to
go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others, I expect you
to rock their world.
“We go to liberate, not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their
country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that
will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Don’t treat them as
refugees, for they are in their own country.
“I know men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts. They
live with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you,
then remember they have that right in international law, and ensure
that one day they go home to their family. The ones who wish to fight,
well, we aim to please. If there are casualties of war, then remember,
when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to
die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly, and mark
their graves.
“You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest, for your
deeds will follow you down history. Iraq is steeped in history. It is
the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood, and the birth of
Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will have to go a long way to find
a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will
be embarrassed by their hospitality, even though they have nothing ...
“There may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.
We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will
be no time for sorrow. Let’s leave Iraq a better place for us having
been there. Our business now, is north.”
[Speech written by Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins, 42-year-old commander
of The Royal Irish battle group. He delivered it to his troops in Kuwait
on the afternoon of 19.03.03, just hours before they went into battle.]
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics220303
|
22.03.2003 |
Further
commentary on just war and its relationship with modern, evolving law
- ‘Law’ is not ‘law’, if it not enforced.
- Not all ‘law’ is somehow automatically legitimate. Take,
for example, the anti-Jewish Nuremberg ‘laws’ in Hitler’s
National Socialist Germany; and doubtless Madsam (Saddam Hussein) has
some sort of pretence at ‘laws’, which serve his purposes.
- Law requires some form of ethical backing. A ‘law’ of
the UN, where half the law givers are illegitimate rulers, is not
acceptable—at least not to me.
- Legitimate government cannot abnegate its responsibilities
to an outside organisation, let alone to an organisation largely
peopled by illegitimate rulers.
At least, this has been, roughly, moral teaching for thousands of
years.
- The removal of Madsam does not stand, or fall, by any single strand.
- Removing him because he is perpetrating great wrongs on the people
of Irak is perfectly legitimate ethics, and time-honoured moral teaching.
- Likewise, if he poses a credible threat to others.
On both or either of these counts, Madsam is a suitable
case for treatment.
The morality of war on Iraq
“This week the leaders of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic
church in Britain have both spoken out against a war on Iraq and Saddam
Hussein, and doubt the morality of an attack on Iraq.”
—
“If Saddam is not removed, it is the appeasers who will have the blood
of innocents on their hands.” [bigboard]
ab:
Indeed. I have been reading recent (2003) comments by Rome on the theory
of ‘just war’. It is incredible but clear that, generally, Roman
clerics are completely ignorant of the relevant arguments, or of the subtlety
of the arguments. Another problem is that reports of these comments are
regularly being extracted from context by the media as a dishonest means
of applying spin.
More recent faults include
- an inability to distinguish between a ‘war’ and a police
action;
- an inability to comprehend the ‘legitimacy’ of controllers
of states;
- an inability to understand that there is no clear distinction between
‘a war of aggression’ and ‘a war of defence’;
- they do not clearly understand the differences between real individuals
and the ‘abstract’ notion of the state;
- they are untutored in cost/benefit analysis, in other words they are
untutored in enlightenment philosophy. And there is more in the details.
The ignorance of the Roman clergy is quite appalling. They mouth left-wing
clichés, not theology or philosophy.
The clerics give the appearance of not being educated beyond the age
of 12 years old. Why? They have been usually brainwashed into idealism
and then persuaded into joining seminaries at about that age.
Now,
mind control, Vatican style, some recent
social history in a factionalised forrmat:
"Peter Mullan's incendiary new film, The Magdalene Sisters, has already
made headlines for provoking the Vatican, and thereby earned itself
a pre-release reputation that would be the envy of any publicity department.
The film lands some well-aimed blows on the Catholic Church in general,
and on nuns in particular, but let no one assume that they're the only
offenders. A whole society is on trial here, an Ireland of not very
distant memory in which social, familial and moral hypocrisy combined
to banish innocent young women to a lifetime of servitude and lovelessness.
Dickens could hardly have rendered these stolen lives more piteous."
related material
‘just
war'
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics030303-2
|
updated
19.03.2003
related
material
the ‘just
war’ |
| the
legal position on intervention, by rees-mogg 
“Europe has chosen to leave the job to the United States. Now France
and Germany have become hostile to the United States’s way of doing the
job; indeed, they are backing a violent and genocidal regime against the
United States. Law can never be separated from enforcement.
The United States is operating inside modern conceptions of justifiable
intervention; France and Germany are trying to prevent international law
being enforced.”
This item not only looks at the meaning of law, but also states some
essentials concerning the operation of the law in Britain.
It is a very useful analysis, and a full reading is highly recommended.
related material
the logic of ethics
the ‘just
war’
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics170303
|
17.03.2003
related
material
the logic of
ethics
the ‘just
war’ |
| Ethics
and escapism
This article is more interesting than most. A shame about the Aristotelian
on/off ‘logic’—either Aristotle
or Plato—that pervades the piece. It
is foolishness to become entrapped by ‘either/or’.
The most important comment in the article:
“What at first appears to be a high-minded stance against using force
against Saddam Hussein is in reality a recipe for raising children to be
the sort of ethical eunuchs and moral neutrals who will lack the character
to fight the good fight in any field.”
I have been increasingly concerned by the lack of any ethical or moral
compass in the ranks of the peaseniks.
If anything, I would contrast escapism with realism. Theory and practice
are partners in advance. Escapism is mere moral and intellectual bankruptcy—an
addiction little different from alcoholism.
[link from Mel
Rowing]
related material
the ‘just
war’
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics150303
|
15.03.2003
related
material
the ‘just
war’ |
| “Official
plan for reconstruction of post-war Iraq”
“The writer is deputy national security adviser to President Bush.”
related material
new activist group—statement
of principles
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics050303
|
05.03.2003
related
material
new activist group—
statement of principles |
| ‘genocide’
in irak—just cause for action
Class article by Rees-Mogg;
highly recommended.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics040303
|
04.03.2003 |
| new
activist group—statement of principles
“5. Democracy entails a principled commitment to resolving disputes
through non-violent means, both at home and abroad. As such, democracies
do not make war on one another. In the long run, spreading democracy is
the only demonstrated and sustainable means of preventing international
conflict.
A recommended read – short.
This item is the writing on the wall for the future, and the beginning
of the end to dictatorships.
A growing mood is that dictatorships will no longer be tolerated.
This is a historic change in progression.
Watch it grow.
[Lead from Frogman.
Note, this is a very useful blog by a French dissenter. The current banner
display is also unlike the usual French head-in-the-sand peasenik reaction.
Parallel English and French versions.]
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics030303-4
|
03.03.2003 |
| reconstruction
after removal of incompetent regimes
As the Cold War recedes and the Net increasingly informs the public with
uncensored news, so the public take more interest in the actions of their
governments.
Increasingly, Western governments are having to make provision for humanitarian
follow-up in the train of removing oppressive and incompetent regimes.
From the article:
“ "That choice belongs to the Iraqi people. Yet we will ensure
that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another. All Iraqis must have
a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected,"
Bush said.”
“The Bush administration forgot to add funding in its 2004 federal
budget proposal to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, only to have go
back and put in $300 million.”
Large amounts of resources seem to be in process of being set aside for
the reconstruction of Irak after the removal of Madsam’s gang.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics030303-3
|
03.03.2003 |
| ethics
and war—assessing collateral effects of weapons
“... a new clause attached to the funding calls for the US National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) to investigate what effect any use of the
weapon would have.
“The clause was added by moderates when the Senate and House of Representatives
met to finalise the Defense Authorization Act, published last week. The
demand comes on top of a requirement that the military assess conventional
alternatives...”
related material
the ‘just
war’
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ethics1.htm#ethics030303
|
03.03.2003
related
material
the ‘just
war’ |
ethics
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