Afghanistan - The Scales of Suffering
Posted by Ricky in Opinion under International | on Oct 03 2009
It undid Tony Blair. It did for Neville Chamberlain. When to intervene in the name of humanity, and when not to. Making a judgement on what is possible rather than what is desirable. Making an infernal judgement on the importance of what is desirable, and deciding in extremis that it carries more weight even than what seems possible.
Whatever choice is made, thousands, hundreds of thousands of innocent people will suffer death and destruction. Pacifism is an option only for the individual, not for our leaders. In terms of human suffering, the best choice can only be the least bad choice. Shall we withdraw from Afghanistan, abandon its people to their fate - at least we won’t be killing them. List of Wars and Disasters by Death Toll. How many dead was Saddam Hussein responsible for.Iran Irak War (جنگ تحمیلی, Jang-e-tahmīlī)? Would it have been better to have left him there, and how many would have been spared of the 300,000 who’ve died in the chaos we unleashed? How much despair will fit on either side of the scales? On whose behalf are the choices made? On humanity’s or a particular electorate? Who is mandated, and how far does the mandate extend, and when is it imperative to ignore the limitations of the mandate?
