Who Is Responsible for the Deaths of Those Three Children in Syria? by Jacob G. Hornberger!!
(2019-11-04 at 14:00:13 )

Who Is Responsible for the Deaths of Those Three Children in Syria? by Jacob G. Hornberger

I received an interesting critique of my recent article "Were the Deaths of Those Three Children Worth It?" My critic said that since the deaths of the three children were caused by the suicide bombing by ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the United States troops who were doing the raiding could not be held responsible for their deaths by any stretch of the imagination.

Actually, however, the thrust of my article was not about the issue of responsibility. It simply was designed to ask a simple question: Were the deaths of those three children worth getting Baghdadi?

In other words, let us look at the situation another way.

Suppose when the operation was being planned, the planners concluded that it was a virtual certainty that three children would be killed in the operation. Knowing that, would that price inhibit the planners from engaging in the raid?

The answer is no.

Getting Mr. Baghdadi was the prime objective, and no price in terms of foreign life would be considered too high to get him.

Even if it had been 20 children or 100 children who would be killed in the operation, the deaths, while difficult, would still have been considered worth it.

That was my point in bringing up the statement by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. When asked whether the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children from United States and United Nations sanctions on Iraq were worth it, she responded that yes, the deaths, while difficult, were, in fact, "worth it." By "it" she meant regime change in Iraq.

Nonetheless, the issue regarding responsibility for the deaths of those children that my critic has raised is an interesting one. Who is responsible for the deaths of those three children?

In a direct sense, there is no doubt that Mr. Baghdadi is the one responsible. He is the one who exploded his suicide vest knowing that three of his children were with him.

But is that the end of the inquiry? I do not believe so.

I believe that United States interventionists have to share moral responsibility for those deaths. After all, without United States interventionism, those children would still be alive today.

It was United States interventionism that gave rise to ISIS, the group that Mr. Baghdadi was in charge of. If it had not been for United States interventionism in Iraq, ISIS would never have formed in response to the United States invasion and occupation of that country. And if there had never been an ISIS, there never would have been a violent military raid that resulted in the deaths of those three children.

Keep in mind also that Iraq never attacked the United States.

That means that the United States invasion and multi-year occupation of Iraq violated the principles set forth by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.

Keep in mind also that the war was waged without the congressional declaration of war required by the United States Constitution.

That made the war illegal under our form of government.

Why should we give United States interventionists a pass on the deadly and destructive consequences of their philosophy and illegal policies?

Why should we permit them to avoid moral responsibility for the natural and proximate consequences of their policies and illegal actions?

Why should we judge them by their good intentions rather than the actual results of their policies and illegal actions?

There is something else to consider about the raid in which those three children were killed: the United States Constitution.

It is the higher law that we the people have imposed on federal officials, including the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency. They are supposed to obey our law, just as they expect us to obey their laws (e.g., drug laws).

The troops are in Syria for two purposes: regime change in Syria and to fight ISIS.

Yet, neither purpose is among the delegated powers enumerated in the United States Constitution.

The United States Constitution does not authorize the sending of United States troops into foreign nations for the purpose of regime change or to bring foreign terrorists to justice.

That makes the presence of United States troops to Syria illegal under our form of government.

Soldiers are required to disobey illegal orders, especially orders that violate the United States Constitution that they all take an oath to support and defend. (Example: Lt. William Calley in the Vietnam War.)

Yet, as far as I know, not one single United States soldier has refused to obey the illegal orders to invade and occupy Syria, to fight ISIS, and to bring Mr. Baghdadi and other ISIS members to "justice."

It is also worth mentioning that terrorism, including international terrorism, is a criminal offense, not an act of war.

It is listed in the United States Code.

That is why the feds bring terrorism prosecutions in United States District Court.

The fact that the United States military is (illegally) charged with the task of bringing international terrorists to justice does not convert the "war on terrorism" into a real war, just as the use of Mexican troops to enforce the drug war does not convert the "war on drugs" into a real war. It simply means that the military is being used in a police capacity.

At no time has Mr. Baghdadi been accused of committing terrorist acts in the United States. Thus, by initiating violent raids to kill or capture ISIS members in place thousands of miles away from American shores, the United States government is operating in its now-customary role as the worlds international policeman, judge, and executioner.

All this death, destruction, mayhem, and illegality from interventionism operates as a detriment to the United States of American people, including the destruction of our freedom and privacy here at home, not to mention the fact that it makes United States of Americans traveling overseas more unsafe.

In the wake of the deaths of those three children, what better time than now to restore the United States of Americas founding system of non-interventionism?

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Great Website!!