Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as terror victims -- Bolton

[tocqueville]

45 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in Israel from "malicious terrorist acts".

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he said: "it is a matter of great concern to us ...that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

The eight dead Canadians were a Lebanese-Canadian couple, their four children, his mother and an uncle, said relatives in Montreal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060717204728

no comments

[Guaranteed]

1. No, I don't agree with that, at all.

When you're raining down bombs on a country, and you know for a fact that innocent people are going to be killed, you have to take responsibility for them getting killed. It's a deliberate act, and thus exactly the same thing.

However, that's not to say that I would always disagree with actions in war that kill civilians. That's not what I'm saying. But you do have to take responsibility, because you knew it would happen.

[Avalux]

2. Dead is dead is dead.

Hearing an ass like Bolton discuss the moral equivalence of human lives makes my heart hurt. :(

[DemoTex]

13. "You can't get poorer than dead," wrote Flannery O'Connor.

But maybe you can. The paucity of John Bolton's specious morality reveals a soul as poor as the dead, or worse. Maybe Flannery O'Connor never contemplated the likes of the current PNAC cabal. Misfits, all.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I am pretty sure bin Laden has said very similar things in the past n/t

[enigmacat]

15. No sarcasm intended, but, your point?

[Greeby]

4. Ugh, January 2007 can't get here fast enough

(That's when his recess appointment expires)

[reichstag911]

10. So what stops *...

...from recess-appointing him again?

[smokey nj]

5. Am I the only person who hopes that Bolton chokes on a hairball

from his own mustache?

[nam78_two]

12. LOL

smokeynj thank YOU for that...

Things are SO depressing these days, that a genuine laugh now and then is a great treat....

LMAO....

People who talk about the deaths of ANY innocent people, whatever their race/religion/narionality etc. in these terms are really scary....ugh...Bolton is an inhuman disgustoid.
I don't know how any of these people live with themselves....

(Am still laughing at the thought of Bolton choking on a hairball from his own mouche though.....
:rofl:)

[smokey nj]

16. You're welcome......

and welcome to DU!!!!

:hi:

[Spazito]

6. Geez, there is disgusting, putrid slime and then there is Bolton...

I would take the disgusting putrid slime over him anyday.

[reichstag911]

7. For Israel,...

...they're "unfortunate...civilian deaths"; for Hezbollah (or Hamas, or any of them there ragheads), they're always "slaughtered innocent victims of terrorism." Talk about your moral relativism...

[shain from kane]

8. What about those deaths on the USS Liberty? Israel ducked

that one, too. With help from U.S.A. apologists.




Edited to add additional comment.

[hobbit709]

9. And there is no "moral" or real equivalence

between Bolton and a human being. May they all rot in hell.

[mmonk]

11. Conservatives Without Conscience

[Swamp Rat]

14. What do you get when you cross a walrus and a reptile?

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Bolton is a great example of Republican "Christian" values

Although, perhaps Bush's signing statements apply to the holy scripture as well.

Thou shalt not kill

Signing statement: (Not applicable to brown people)

[malaise]

18. Fugg Bolton

He is a fugging terrorist who devalues life everytime he opens that snout.

[acmavm]

19. Remarks from repugnant slimeballs like this guy on serve to turn people

against Isreal even more. I don't mean the Israeli civilians who are caught up in their government's murderous escapades, but the Israeli government who I wish would learn the terror and pain of being bombed first hand, up front, and personal.

And any Homeland Security moran who reads that better realize that I am saying I'm going to do anything, my stock of bombs is depleted and my jet aircraft is in the shop.

[Bretttido]

20. So what's the ratio captain morality?

3 Lebanon civilians per 1 Israeli civilian? Please let us know!

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

21. You know the rule...No follow-up questions!

Bolton and Kissinger, up next with Lou Dobbs. (FYI)

[tocqueville]

22. Lebanon deaths devastate Canadian Lebanese family

By Robert Melnbardis
21 minutes ago

MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian Lebanese family, devastated by the deaths of eight of its members in Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, is beseeching Ottawa to help Lebanon and its citizens escape the destruction.

Meysounn El-Akhras, sister of Ali El-Akhras, a Montreal pharmacist who was wounded in the bombardment on Sunday and also lost his four children, wife, mother and uncle, called on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday to help her family and protect other Lebanese citizens.

"I demand that the government do what it can for my brother, who has just lost his mother, his four children," she tearfully told a press conference.

Ali El-Akhras was taken to a hospital in Beirut, where he succumbed to his injuries on Monday, a family member in Montreal told Reuters several hours after the press conference.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060717/wl_canada_nm/canada_mideast_canada_family_col

[ComerPerro]

23. how is it any different? Innocent people died

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. It's saying that a priori, Israel can do no wrong

Israel is always described as reacting, responding to, or answering the acts initiated by "terrorists", no matter the circumstance. And even if Israel bombs in places where no initial act occurred, they bomb to affect the terrorists located elsewhere, or they bomb to prevent future terrorist acts which they would just have to answer, react to, or respond to anyway. Israel is never the actor, always the reactor. Intuitively, Bolton knows that in every single case the "terrorists" are malicious, but Israel hates having to bomb civilians and kill them, even though it does.

Personally I think there's blame on both sides and that each side is acting out of its own self-interest, but the one-sided attitude of the current administration is sick, just sick, especially in its attitude towards the relative value of the human life being extinguished.