Ryan Grim on how George W. Bush condemned Israel's killing of seven civilians in order to take out Hamas commander

Somebody pointed out that in 2002, or maybe 2003, very soon after 9/11, Israel struck the leader of Hamas and a founder of Hamas and killed him along with seven civilians.  George W. Bush put out one of the sternest statements condemning the action, condemning the loss of civilian life, saying that there's no justification, even if you're attacking the commander - the commander.  Not a battalion commander, but the head of Hamas.  "Killing seven civilians along the way is an unacceptable price to pay."  That's George W. Bush who later would have more blood on his hands than probably any president in a hundred years.  For him to say that "this is too much" and now to get very little reaction from the White House to who knows how many civilian casualties we're going to have, and it's kind of untoward to be quibbling over the numbers when you look at those images [of the Jabalia refugee camp being bombed in Gaza]...

~ Ryan Grim, "Israel Admits to Bombing Refugees Live on CNN," Breaking Points, 7:00 mark, November 1, 2023

Michael Rozeff on economic sanctions

Sanctions are wrong for the same reason that dropping a hydrogen bomb on Moscow would be wrong.  They target innocent people.  They are wrong for the same reason that attacking the Taliban government in Afghanistan was wrong, when bin Laden was the accused.  They are wrong for the same reason that attacking Iraq was wrong when Saddam Hussein was the accused target.  They are wrong for the same reason that bombing Libya was wrong when Gaddafi was the accused target.

~ Michael Rozeff, "The Theory of Economic Sanctions is Wrong," LewRockwell.com, March 14, 2014

(Quoted by Lew Rockwell, "Keep US Out of War," February 28, 2022.)

Eric July on the George Flynn riots

It's one thing to go head on with the aggressor.  It's another to take out the innocent.

~ Eric July, The Tom Woods Show interview, June 2, 2020

Woman and her husband in Rochester, NY trying to protect
their business, which has been in the community since 1943

Blaise Pascal on war and collateral damage

Can any thing be more ridiculous than that a man has a right to kill me because he dwells the other side of the water, and because his prince has a quarrel with mine, although I have none with him?

~ Blaise Pascal, Pensees, IV (1670)

Lily Hamourtziadou on civilian casualties in the Iraq War

We, who have lost very little, who have sacrificed very little, who have paid very little,... we continue to speak of ‘our’ war, of ‘our’ fight against the terrorists, ‘our’ ideals, ‘our’ kindness, ‘our’ courage; things that we value far more than the lives of millions of others, people whose deaths do not hurt us, whose loss does not affect us, and whose sacrifice we do not see bloodying our own hands.

~ Lily Hamourtziadou, "The Price of Loss: How the West Values Civilian Lives in Iraq," IraqBodyCount.org, November 12, 2007