Armitage on charge of targeting civilians: "Shame on you"
By Robert - Jihad Watch
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One of the main things that makes the global jihad network morally reprehensible is that it targets civilians - chiefly in Israel but also all over the world. It justifies the attacks by a provision of Islamic law that prohibits the killing of women and children "unless they are fighting against the Muslims"<font size=3> ('Umdat al-Salik o9.10, cf. al-Mawardi, al-Akham as-Sultaniyyah, 4.2). <font size=4>This has been interpreted as allowing civilians to be killed if they are somehow aiding the war effort - hence the common assertion that "there are no civilians in Israel."
Aware of this and media-savvy as ever, the jihadis and
their allies have tried to make much of the U.S. forces
supposedly targeting civilians in Iraq. And the mujahedin
themselves have used women and children as shields to try
to make sure the U.S. would target civilians - the easier
to discredit American claims of the moral high ground. And
of course the Kerryite Left, following their leader's
example of hysterical claims of American soldiers running
amok in Vietnam, piles on happily.
But in an interview with Iraq Coalition and Pan-Arab print reporters, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage was having none of it, and spoke with rare and refreshing candor. From the State Department website, with thanks to Ruth King:
QUESTION: One follow-up, sir, very quickly --
DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Sure.
QUESTION: -- about human rights in Iraq. There have been civilian casualties, women and children, in Fallujah. How can you promote democracy in the Middle East when you're sending out a message that it's okay to shoot at children and --
DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Oh, stop. Stop. Shame on you. I
hope you were screaming about human rights during the time
of Saddam Hussein. I didn't hear many in the region.
We are the most humane military in the world. We punish
our people when they exceed bounds, and we do it
transparently. We regret every single civilian life which
is lost, and we do our utmost, even putting our soldiers
at risk, to prevent those.
It is true that there are civilian casualties and it is
true that these scenes are shown over and over,
particularly on our Arab friends' television networks. Now
we spend enormous amounts of time and put our soldiers and
Marines at risk in order to try to prevent it.
War is dangerous and it is difficult times, but when you
ask that question, I would hope that you'd reflect on your
own writing over the past, say, 30 years and see what
you've said about human rights in Iraq.
Thank you all very much. |
