Re: And how did you celebrate 1 May?

In article <fvtpd5$erp$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 wdstarr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (William December Starr) wrote:

> In article <ddfr-69292C.18570507052008@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> David Friedman <ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:
> 
> > Do you think that having people blow themselves up in the middle
> > of crowds of civilians is militarily necessary?
> 
> In general, probably not.  In the particular cases in Iraq, I don't
> know -- does it achieve military goals (including the acquisition
> of additional political power or support)?
> 
> > If not, quite a lot of the deaths in Iraq are, by your standard,
> > attributable to the people fighting the U.S. (and each other).
> 
> Quite a lot?  I don't know the total death toll from such events,
> April 2003 to present, but I suspect that it's a tiny fraction of
> the post-invasion deaths in Iraq.

I didn't claim a majority, because I also don't know. But you appeared 
to be trying to make two claims, both in my view false:

1. All deaths in the Iraq war were properly blamed on the U.S.

2. Deaths properly blamed on a government are correctly described as 
people killed by that government.

1 is clearly false by your own stated standards.

I also note that the U.S. attack on Iraq was intended to achieve 
military goals, and did achieve some. If that's all that is required to 
justify killing people, then you shouldn't be blaming the U.S. for any 
of the deaths.

-- 
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
 Published by Baen, paperback in bookstores now