One major caveat.
I don't know all the details of the Doctors work. He very easily could have been a member of the CIA (for all I know) and was acting in an undercover capacity or he could have been providing valuable intel while doing his mercy work. But this news has me shaking my head and wondering...via FoxNews.
If you're a US citizen and you're working in a war zone...without government sponsorship...acting under the banner of an NGO, then if you're captured do we have a responsibility to put other people's lives in jeopardy to save you?
Let's take it a step further. If you're a fighting man and walk away from your post and into the hands of the enemy do we have a responsibility to save you?
Boiled down to its crust.
If you're stupid do we have a responsibility to come to your aid?
I don't know all the details of the Doctors work. He very easily could have been a member of the CIA (for all I know) and was acting in an undercover capacity or he could have been providing valuable intel while doing his mercy work. But this news has me shaking my head and wondering...via FoxNews.
A U.S. official has told Fox News that a member of the Navy SEAL Team Six -- the same special ops group used for the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound -- was killed during a weekend rescue mission in Afghanistan that freed an American doctor abducted by the Taliban outside of Kabul five days ago.But the question has to be asked.
President Barack Obama praised the special forces on Sunday, saying the mission was characteristic of U.S. troops' "extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism."
A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Dr. Dilip Joseph of Colorado Springs, Colo., was rescued early Sunday, local time, in eastern Afghanistan. Joseph, a medical adviser for Colorado Springs-based Morning Star Development, was rescued after intelligence showed he was in imminent danger of injury or possible death, according to the U.S. military.
The U.S. did not immediately identify the SEAL Team Six member killed in the mission.
"He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free," Obama said in a statement.
In a separate statement Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, "In this fallen hero, and all of our special operators, Americans see the highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service upheld."
If you're a US citizen and you're working in a war zone...without government sponsorship...acting under the banner of an NGO, then if you're captured do we have a responsibility to put other people's lives in jeopardy to save you?
Let's take it a step further. If you're a fighting man and walk away from your post and into the hands of the enemy do we have a responsibility to save you?
Boiled down to its crust.
If you're stupid do we have a responsibility to come to your aid?
Here is my educated and eloquent response: Fuck em!
ReplyDeletegute
Sounds about right. That being said, I worry if that could backfire on us; but maybe I'm worrying too much. I dunno.
DeleteUh... it depends?
ReplyDeleteFor starters, define "government sponsorship". Because, for example, I could envision a White House sending troops somewhere with discretion and trying to downplay it by not acknowledging, say, ICRC work in the zone. But, that same RC could be working to save combatants, included US troops. Would the use of US troops be right if they were saving a RC doctor that had, among others, helped their people?
ICRC: Red Cross.
Not having sponsorship should not automatically disqualify, nor should it automatically qualify either.
Take care.
Ferran