“Humanitarian” and “War” are Contradictions in terms

Tony Blair was fond of the oxymoron of ‘humanitarian war’ making much political capital of it in Kosovo. You only have to look at how rich it made him personally to encourage such conflicts to see right through his lies.

Think Left

Oxymoron of the day- “Humanitarian war in Syria”

Also Published on Common Dreams

By  Digby  (progressive political blogger Heather Parton) from the blog Hullabaloo.

I would argue that when I see 400 children subjected to gas, over 1,400 innocent civilians dying senselessly . . . the moral thing to do is not to stand by and do nothing.” — President Obama earlier today

That’s very compelling. This article in Jacobin Magazine by Greg Shupak explains why humanitarian war is a contradiction in terms:

(Image: NYT/Brian Stauffer)

Liberal interventionists thought they had this one. Their doctrine had seemingly triumphed in Libya. Not only were the usual suspects, the Christopher Hitchenses, the Bernard-Henri Levys, peddling the notion that NATO could be a global constabulary for the enforcement of human rights, but more careful commentators like Juan Cole and Gilbert Achcar had also backed Western intervention. If NATO’s war in Libya has…

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