Voice from the Commonwealth Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
.
Praise for Voice
"A smart fellow...I do like, recommend and learn from Barbera's blog." -Roger L. Simon
"Your blog is bullshit"- anonymous angry French reader.
The Israeli army is defending it's use of Palestinians to knock on the doors of wanted men.
The "neighbor practice" is mostly used when trying to get a wanted man out of a house. Under such circumstances the army uses what it refers to as "a pressure cooker." First the troops surround the house, using megaphones to call out the wanted man. Then one of the neighbors is sent to call on the suspect to come out. At that point, if they don't respond, the neighbor is pulled back and troops open fire with anti-tank missiles and light weapons at the house. If that doesn't work, a bulldozer is brought in to knock down the house on top of the suspects inside.
They are claiming: "The fact that nobody was killed until the day before yesterday," said one officer, "is proof of how effective it is to send a neighbor to the door rather than just opening fire or risking life." In most cases, said the officer, "the suspect comes out on his own, without turning the arrest into a firefight and without endangering the soldiers, police or neighbors."
I have some trouble with that. In practice it may be true but it is still not within the bounds of the Geneva Convention. Why not just let the person you would send up to the house use the megaphone and try to talk the person out. I don't know, it may be effective, but so are a number of things that are also basically immoral.
The Western Civilization and Democracy Net Ring celebrates Western civilization and its universal values of individual freedom, political democracy and equal rights for all. All sites promoting human rights and democracy are welcome.
