Just had this thought, because I myself didn't flinch at 3 unsavoury dudes being shot to save an American captain/husband/dad. But surely there must be a limit - can we snipe away 10 of them? A hundred? Thousands?
Does a $10 million demand and a threat of a murder automatically render a civilian open to undisputed execution by the army?
A better question is how many inocent lives can we take to kill one criminal. The awnser is close to 100 .
share1. Another way of asking the same question: How many hostages are you OK to leave in captivity to spare one guilty kidnapper?
2. The international context makes it an act of war--not crime. It is not one citizen kidnapping another fellow citizen in the US with due process considerations, etc.
3. All collateral damage is the moral fault of the initiators of force--not the victims / self-defenders who are morally superior. Yes, respecting individual rights & non-coercion are morally superior to disrespecting individual rights & coercion. The Nazis, Confederates, & Imperialist Shintos were responsible for all deaths of their own civilians.
4. A tactic does not determine moral goodness or badness. For example, using a human shield (or the equivalent) by evil people is tragic, but it does not grant automatic moral superiority to the side using it. And if the morally superior side intentionally kills people who are part of the human shield, then that does not automatically make it morally inferior. Think about what it would mean for a tactic to determine moral standing. It would only cripple the good and reward the evil. It would be obscenely unjust. Any user of a human shield would be instantly empowered.
5. This principle is largely ignored today due to the New Testament & secular calls for self-sacrificing good to evil. As a consequence, the human shield strategy works for the evil and also ties the hands of the good. This leads to needless death & suffering for the morally superior side.
Infinity.
Yes.
As many as it takes to rescue that one innocent life. If the military had to kill a million pirates to save one hostage I would not care at all. Pirates are the scum of the earth.
shareYou kill enough to neutralize the situation.
Maiming is also an option.
"Been hittin' the Thighmaster,
Torgo?"
They were given ample opportunity to surrender. They were threatening murder. They were killed. I don't feel bad for one of them. If you point a gun at an innocent with the threat of pulling the trigger, and you have the United States Navy with guns pointed at you, maybe you shouldn't be complaining about getting shot.
the answer is 0 so caused kidnappers is worth any less life then any so called hostage. These are victims of hundreds of years of colonial oppression and exploitation , and the second they start to rise up with any economic power they are struck down and lied about in the corporate media. We are talking about men with families.
shareAs many as it takes. If they've chosen to abduct and if an innocent life is in peril keeping killing until all the evil doers who are threatening that innocent life are stopped and the innocent life has been saved.
Was ist der Sinn des Lebens?