William Pfaff
The annual
Courtesy restrains the European participants from asking what the threat is, against which
Surely 11 nuclear carrier groups with accompanying support is not required to fight the remnants of al-Qaida, nor have they proven decisive against the Taliban in
On
The decision of
Defense Secretary
Afghan security forces, with or without foreign trainers, are supposed to number some 400,000 by late 2013. Few outside Mr. Panetta's office -- or the
Indeed, why can't they defend themselves now? There are more than 31 million people in
It is usual for Americans to say we defend "democratic governments," but that is not usually the case. This admirable principle usually reduces to defending client governments, for motives that have to do with American national or
There is, however, a principle of proportionality involved, and a duty of candor. The issue of proportionality requires weighing the harm being done to the people of the client-state or ally, and also to the civil population of all the states involved in a struggle, against the good that can reasonably be expected to come from the intervention. How many innocent people were killed, mutilated or their lives ruined in the course of
No one knows because the side that initiated the war does not wish to have the total known, and so deliberately ignores or minimizes civilian deaths. The other side, with their supporters and friends, does their best to maximize losses. The estimates of fatal casualties go from several hundred thousand to over one million. Either is disproportionate to the result. How many are going to die or be grievously harmed in
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