Where Human Rights Evaporate
APR 25 2013 @ 1:58PM
A reporter recalls speaking to a colonel in the Afghan National Security Forces:
I asked the colonel what he thought of human rights.
“Human rights is wrong,” he said.
The colonel didn’t believe the concept could work in Afghanistan. It is too abstract, he said.
It is like a piece of clothing so big it is worthless, or a tool no one knows how to use.
“It works in other countries because the people are educated and the government and the police function,”
the colonel said. “Here the people aren’t educated and the government is corrupt. If I catch a guy
planting an IED, what am I supposed to do with him? I turn him over to the police, and someone bribes
them or gives money to the judge, and they release him.
Now he’s free to go set more IEDs—and he wants revenge against me.”
The colonel turned up his hands. It is simple.“It’s better to just shoot him,” he said.
“There should be no human rights in war.”
A man after Dick Cheney’s heart.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/04/25/where-human-rights-dont-work/
APR 25 2013 @ 1:58PM
A reporter recalls speaking to a colonel in the Afghan National Security Forces:
I asked the colonel what he thought of human rights.
“Human rights is wrong,” he said.
The colonel didn’t believe the concept could work in Afghanistan. It is too abstract, he said.
It is like a piece of clothing so big it is worthless, or a tool no one knows how to use.
“It works in other countries because the people are educated and the government and the police function,”
the colonel said. “Here the people aren’t educated and the government is corrupt. If I catch a guy
planting an IED, what am I supposed to do with him? I turn him over to the police, and someone bribes
them or gives money to the judge, and they release him.
Now he’s free to go set more IEDs—and he wants revenge against me.”
The colonel turned up his hands. It is simple.“It’s better to just shoot him,” he said.
“There should be no human rights in war.”
A man after Dick Cheney’s heart.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/04/25/where-human-rights-dont-work/