My following letter to the editor of the Duluth News Tribune was published 2013-09-08. I also sent it to President Obama, Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Franken.
Thanks to U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan and the News Tribune for their opposition to an attack on Syria (“Nolan is steadfast against Syria strike,” Sept. 4, and, “Our View: Nolan listening, leading on Syria”).
I read somewhere that evil is treating people as things. Someone in Syria treated 300 or 1,400 people as things with a poison gas attack. The first figure is from some in the opposition; the second is from the U.S. government.
Now the U.S. government is threatening to be evil by treating several hundred or even several thousand people as things. Will the victims of Tomahawk missiles be those who ordered or carried out the gas attack or will they be office workers and pedestrians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Showing posts with label gas attack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gas attack. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Gas attack or missile attack: who suffers?
I sent the following webmail to Pres. Obama:
To paraphrase your words: “At what point do we say we need to confront actions that are violating our Constitution?” “I would argue that when I see 400 children subjected to missiles, over 1,400 innocent civilians dying senselessly … the moral thing to do is not to stand by and do nothing.”
What guarantee do you have that each cruise missile will hit a military target? What guarantee do you have that each military target will be occupied by those responsible for the gas attack? Do you know how many civilian workers might be in each target?
A Tomahawk missile has a supposed accuracy of 10 meters. Many streets in Damascus are less than 10 meters wide. Will every military target be more than 10 meters from an apartment building? How far will the debris from a missile explosion go? How many missile explosions will bring neighboring apartments down?
Assume one apartment building has six floors, each floor has four apartments, each apartment has five residents. That's 120 residents in a single apartment building. Do you have any count of how many apartment buildings will be brought down by any misses or near misses or "non-misses"?
If the lethal blast range is 28 meters, then eight neighboring buildings could be brought down. That could mean over 900 residents could be killed by one Tomahawk missile.
If you send ten Tomahawks that could mean over 5,000 Syrians will die for your "message" to Assad. That is a rather high-price for a message for the deaths of 300 or 1400 people.
Oh, by the way, have you considered the repercussions if any missile damages a mosque?
And if the gas attack was perpetrated by Islamic radicals, you really will have been suckered!
To paraphrase your words: “At what point do we say we need to confront actions that are violating our Constitution?” “I would argue that when I see 400 children subjected to missiles, over 1,400 innocent civilians dying senselessly … the moral thing to do is not to stand by and do nothing.”
What guarantee do you have that each cruise missile will hit a military target? What guarantee do you have that each military target will be occupied by those responsible for the gas attack? Do you know how many civilian workers might be in each target?
A Tomahawk missile has a supposed accuracy of 10 meters. Many streets in Damascus are less than 10 meters wide. Will every military target be more than 10 meters from an apartment building? How far will the debris from a missile explosion go? How many missile explosions will bring neighboring apartments down?
Assume one apartment building has six floors, each floor has four apartments, each apartment has five residents. That's 120 residents in a single apartment building. Do you have any count of how many apartment buildings will be brought down by any misses or near misses or "non-misses"?
If the lethal blast range is 28 meters, then eight neighboring buildings could be brought down. That could mean over 900 residents could be killed by one Tomahawk missile.
If you send ten Tomahawks that could mean over 5,000 Syrians will die for your "message" to Assad. That is a rather high-price for a message for the deaths of 300 or 1400 people.
Oh, by the way, have you considered the repercussions if any missile damages a mosque?
And if the gas attack was perpetrated by Islamic radicals, you really will have been suckered!
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