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Friday, May 10, 2024

Wars kill civilians



Watching Meet the Press Now. They are talking about President Biden pausing weapons to Israel, and at about 13 minutes in, Kristen Welker says "The fact that President Biden acknowledged that US weapons have killed civilians ... that is a stark acknowledgement". She seems astounded.

Yes, the weapons we give other countries when they are at war do sometimes kill civilians. In fact, the weapons we use ourselves in our wars and lesser conflicts also kill civilians. Did she somehow miss the innocent civilians, including kids, who were killed by the US military as we pulled out of Afghanistan? How does she not know this stuff? Perhaps she can check out the Wikipedia page on Collateral damage to catch up.

But meanwhile, yes, let's hold Israel to a higher standard than anyone else in the history of warfare, including ourselves. That seems fair :(

I'm not saying that civilian casualties in war sre ok or acceptable. It's a bad thing. But to pretend that only Israel kills civilians in war is dishonest.

And about those dead Gazan civilians: we should be skeptical about the numbers. 1) the only source we have for the number of dead Gazans is Hamas. 2) that number does not differentiate between non-combatants and Hamas fighters. 3) that number does not discriminate between civilians killed by Israel and those killed through friendly (or unfriendly) fire from Hamas.

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