Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Standards for judgement and racism

What follows are excerpts from a June 30, 2014, news account by Tim Craig, the Washington Post's bureau chief in Pakistan:
"Pakistan's military launched a major ground offensive in the northwestern part of the country Monday, beginning what army commanders say will be a 'house-to-house search' for terrorist leaders and other militants.
"The offensive began after two weeks of airstrikes in North Waziristan. . . .
"In a statement, Pakistan's military said its soldiers discovered 'underground tunnels' and 'preparation factories' for explosives during the initial hours of the ground assault. . . .
"Backed by artillery and tanks, troops killed 17 terrorists Monday, the army said. Combined with the toll from airstrikes that began June 16, a total of 376 terrorists have died in the offensive, the army said. . . .
"More than a half-million residents fled North Waziristan ahead of the ground offensive. The mass evacuation of the area, which has a population of about 600,000, was intended to limit civilian casualties during the operation. The military also set up checkpoints in the area to trap militants."
The above is from an opinion piece which is quite straightforward, subtitled,

"The world is outraged by Israeli self-defense but only 'concerned' when Muslims kill Muslims."

with the following conclusions:

"...people often point out how peculiar it is that the Jewish state seems to arouse a level of condemnation that never seems to apply equally elsewhere. But perhaps the real racism is the indifference to Muslim suffering around the world when the person dropping the bomb or pulling the trigger is another Muslim. A world that makes a fetish of the alleged guilt of Israel is also a world that holds too much Muslim life cheap."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/bret-stephens-palestine-and-double-standards-1407194971