The most recent version of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) “People on War” poll has shown an alarming shift in attitudes, particularly among the populations of the five permanent UN Security Council members, toward accepting war crimes as just “part of war.” No nation saw a bigger shift, however, than the United States.
Deliberate military attacks conducted knowing civilian casualties will result were supported by all five permanent members, and each of them was disturbingly okay with the idea of attacking hospitals, even though that is illegal under international law.
Tolerance for torture, however, is increasingly a uniquely American phenomenon, with roughly half of the Americans polled seeing torture as an acceptable way to try to gather information. None of the other permanent Security Council members were anywhere near this, and the only other countries on the planet with comparable figures were Nigeria and Israel.
The broadest opposition to war crimes, unsurprisingly came from respondents to the poll in countries ravaged by war, with people in Yemen uniformly against torture and against attacking hospitals. The Afghan public, similarly was overwhelmingly opposed to both.
“and the only other countries on the planet with comparable figures were Nigeria and Israel.”
My my my… who would have expected the Chosenites to be included in that exclusive little club…?
It looks like to me the countries that have been committing war crimes don’t seem to think war crimes are near so bad as the countries that have been on the receiving end or the victims of war crimes .
I guess it truly is more blessed to give than recieve
At a molecular level, this is deeply disturbing. But, when you consider the amount of effort the war class has invested in conditioning the masses to not only accept but clamor for torture in search of some nebulous bit of information that supposedly exists, how can the result be a surprise?
I wonder if the pollsters bothered to drill down further in the US segment to differentiate between torturing “them” as opposed to “us” – you know, is it easier to torture foreigners who live in the ME than say somebody from Kansas or Oregon? Has the conditioning been strictly to target Islamists or just whomever has been determined to be in need of torture?
As an American who wore the uniform for many years, I am embarrassed and deeply saddened. It used to be the statement, “This is not who we are” was easily and readily made with conviction. Not so much anymore it seems.
Propaganda/lies from the White House over the past 16 years (at least) combined with endless repetition of these “fake news” stories by the mainstream media did the trick. Add to that 12 years of government monopoly school brainwashing and citizen “obedience training” and you have the perfect combination of factors to insure blind acceptance of everything coming from the war machine as “truth.” Aren’t we “blessed” to be living in such a great time and in such a great country?
The alarming truth is that We The People have zero tolerance for war crimes. If you follow the money trail of war crimes coming from the US, it’s tied directly back to Israel and their bankers trying to steal and ethnically cleanse the Middle East while trying to takeover the US.
Israel, Not In America’s Name, 2016!