I think it’s important to at least begin with a minimally presumptive stance to avoid engaging in false rhetoric. That it was an accidental war crime is still utterly heinous. We can express doubt about it being an accident, but we should examine it from the “best case” angle first before tackling that separately.
Looking at recent precedent and using that to assess probabilities of current motives and actions is inductive reasoning, not “engaging in false rhetoric.”
And another bit of induction is worthwhile: when someone lies to you tens of thousands of time, what possible reason would you have to assume they’re telling the truth this time, especially when it contradicts their own previous statements and actions, such as changing rules of engagement to disregard civilian casualties when selecting targets, or advocating a policy of killing the families of foreign leaders?
Calling it an accident just lays the carpet for the Department of WAR to request more money for “training” and “better equipment” (to kill more civilians including children).
I don’t want the US government to have better tools for killing people in the Middle East. I want the US government to stop killing people in the Middle East. We gain nothing by taking them at their word.
Keep in mind that this was declared an Iranian attack by the USA before the USA labeled in an “accident”. Push harder and they’ll probably use Israeli’s argument about “human shields” to blame Iran again.
I think it’s important to at least begin with a minimally presumptive stance to avoid engaging in false rhetoric. That it was an accidental war crime is still utterly heinous. We can express doubt about it being an accident, but we should examine it from the “best case” angle first before tackling that separately.
Looking at recent precedent and using that to assess probabilities of current motives and actions is inductive reasoning, not “engaging in false rhetoric.”
And another bit of induction is worthwhile: when someone lies to you tens of thousands of time, what possible reason would you have to assume they’re telling the truth this time, especially when it contradicts their own previous statements and actions, such as changing rules of engagement to disregard civilian casualties when selecting targets, or advocating a policy of killing the families of foreign leaders?
Calling it an accident just lays the carpet for the Department of WAR to request more money for “training” and “better equipment” (to kill more civilians including children).
I don’t want the US government to have better tools for killing people in the Middle East. I want the US government to stop killing people in the Middle East. We gain nothing by taking them at their word.
Keep in mind that this was declared an Iranian attack by the USA before the USA labeled in an “accident”. Push harder and they’ll probably use Israeli’s argument about “human shields” to blame Iran again.