Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Can You Say "Collective Punishment"?

Here's the definition from Wikipedia:
Collective punishment is a term describing the punishment of a group of people for the crime of a few or even of one. It is contradictory to the modern concept of due process, where each individual receives separate treatment based on their individual circumstances — as they relate to the crime in question.
Hmm, let's see here:
Palestinians filled up on basic supplies after warplanes knocked out electricity, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas-led government's information ministry warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes to central Gaza.

[...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened harsher action, though he said there was no plan to reoccupy Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deplored the incursion as a "crime against humanity."
Harsher action? Does he imply that tanks, gunship helicopters, bombing from F-16's, and ground troops weren't enough? How much more harsh does it get against a population that is at best lightly armed? This all because of a Palestinian incursion into Isreali territory in which two Isreali soldiers were killed and one was kidnapped. It must be noted it was the kidnapping of one soldier that triggered this response.

To be fair, I've been pretty selective about what I clipped from that AP article, so go read it for the balance they provide. Those two items just jumped out at me. That "Roadmap" sure is working, eh Condi?

I wonder how these tactics might work, say, in Iraq? Nevermind...

posted by FuzzFinger @ 6/28/2006 05:42:00 PM