Krauthammer Justifies War Criminals
Posted: Monday, November 07, 2011
by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com
In a recent column, Charles Krauthammer justified those who brutally murdered Moammar Gaddafi and desecrated his body after taking him captive. Krauthammer said Gaddafi deserved what he got, especially because he refused to leave Libya when the revolution began and “chose instead to fight to the death.” I usually find myself agreeing with Mr. Krauthammer, but I think he is dead wrong here. I don't care how wicked Gaddafi was, he did not deserve to die the way he did or have his body put on display the way it was.
Those war criminals who murdered Gaddafi violated the rules set forth by the Geneva Conventions. You are not allowed to summarily kill someone who is taken as a prisoner of war, without due process of law. These people acted like a bunch of animals. They do not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of Libya, assuming they are in any way representative of the current leadership.
I also point the finger of blame at the NATO bombers who bombed Gaddafi’s convoy as he and those with him were trying to escape. The NATO bombers are accessories to this murder, and are borderline war criminals themselves. They had no business bombing people who were on an obvious defensive (escape) mission. They were not out to harm anyone at the time. They were just trying to get away with their lives.
I’m sure most people probably feel the same way that Krauthammer does about this incident. After all, they will likely conclude, few people would be more deserving of such a fate than Gaddafi. But, ultimately, it’s not about Gaddafi – it’s about us. By committing the same kinds of heinous acts that Gaddafi would have – or by cheering for those who do – we get pulled down to his level and forfeit any claim to moral superiority.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I agree with him most of the time too. Many people seem to go along with his thinking here too. Not me though. I agree with you here. I go further though. NATO and the US (of course) bombing and being a part of the regime's (no matter how bad) downfall stinks too. Who were we backing, the rebels? And who were the rebels? Possibly worse than nutty Gaddafi? Bully stuff. You won't see us in Syria because they would not be a pushover. We need to think more regarding the big picture of foreign policy.Steve, like you said, we definitely need to put more thought into our foreign policy. A lot of people seem to think that if someone or some regime is evil, then it's okay to use whatever tactics you want and align yourseld with whomever you want in order to bring them down. The end doesn't always justify the means, because sometimes the wrong means leads to a worse end. That's the kind of thing that got us into trouble initially in Afghanistan. We need more people like you, who don't buy into this mindset. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on the subject.
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