----- Original Message ----- From: "JDG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 10:31 PM Subject: Re: Objective Evil
> At 10:14 PM 8/8/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote: > >> >>And dropping bombs on Saddam Hussein's armies was not evil. > >> > > >> >So, the action of killing conscripts of Hussein, many of whom are there > >> >because they had no choice, in inherently an acceptable action? > > > >> You are changing the subject. Not once have I ever said that it was > >> "inherently acceptable", I merely said that it was *not* "inherently > >> evil." > > > >but you also said: > > > >The killing of innocent people is an objective evil. (True) > > > >So, the logical conclusion is that you believe that the soldiers in > >Hussein's army are not innocent because they accepted their conscription > >instead of death or torture. Is that it? > > Yes, I do not believe that they are "innocent." I think that even you > would describe them as having chosen the "lesser evil", would you not? In > which, case, they are still engaging in evil. As I would think of anyone who engages in killing. Killing another human being is an inherently evil act. You are arguing that the end justifies the means. War cannot be justified as an end in itself, it must be justified by another end. > >You don't consider them victims > >of Hussein too? > > I think that I would also consider them victims. Without fully thinking > through the implications of this just yet, this would suggest to me that > conscription in in a totalitarian state is a particularly insidious form of > evil, as it corrupts the innocent into becoming agents of oppression. But, these soldiers were not agents of oppression. They manned the self-defense forces. Hussein trusted an elite for the oppression. Even if you were to declare every Iraqi soldier as guilty, you would also have to admit that we bombed in such a manner that we knew that civilian casualties would take place. When we fight now; we know we kill civilians. The only thing that can justify this is the ends. As an aside; do you agree with the bishops that our nuclear deterrent was inherently evil and should not have existed? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
