blog entries for 2003/10/17

entry #1

:: The Independent reports that US soliders bulldozed Iraqi farmer's crops as a collective punishment:

US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops.

Even ignoring the fact that this violates all sorts of laws, including the US Law of Land Warfare (see links to other blogs for reference), this is, again, so incredibly stupid. In my last post I wondered how to uphold discipline if you had no punishments available; in this post I wonder how you plan to uphold anything by dealing out collective punishment.

There doesn't seem to be a consensus yet that The Independent reported thruthfully, but I guess we'll know in a few days.

More thoughts on Electrolite, rc3.org, Rebecca's Pocket.

[posted at 2003-10-17 00:10:00] TrackBack