Do you agree that anyone who kills 90 people, including 60 children,

[ConsAreLiars]

should be locked up for life under the harshest of conditions?

Do you agree that those who paid that killer to do that act should be held equally responsible and face the same consequences?

Some may argue for the death penalty, but I oppose that in every case, so if the death penalty is not an option, isn't this what any decent society and any decent people would absolutely demand?

[Ghost Dog]

1. And not by accident,

I don't believe that excuse could hold water.

And this is far from being the first time.

... Then there's the the person who tried to cover it up, providing false information to the media as an "embedded journalist" and probably something else...

[underseasurveyor]

2. Absolutely!

And Yes and Yes.

[slackmaster]

3. No

Whether or not the person should be locked up at all would depend on why he or she killed those people.

Do you agree that those who paid that killer to do that act should be held equally responsible and face the same consequences?

Again, I'd need to see some details here. What was the purpose of the killings?

If the killings were not justified, then yes, the financiers deserve the same punishment as the actual killer.

And prisoners must be treated humanely regardless of what kind of crimes they committed.

[countryjake]

9. “emerging evidence”...

Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers' claims of carnage caused by US troops
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4699077.ece

(full video included with article)

[slackmaster]

16. That's not responsive to my reply

Was it misplaced?

[countryjake]

18. You asked for "details", right?

Some try to slough this off as permissible, that somehow "young baby Taliban" is equivalent to any Taliban or "suspected insurgent" or potential terrorist. A residential compound with one suspected Taliban then becomes a fair target and terrorizing that home is "justified"...this doesn't sound like any valid reason for murdering innocent children to me, not in a civil society!

It sounds like terrorism, to me.

[slackmaster]

20. Yes, in response to the hypothetical situation posed in the OP I said more information was needed

The OP was posed as an abstract question, so I addressed it as an abstract exercise.

When I posted my initial reply I was not aware of the incident you are alluding to. You're moving the goal posts.

The essence of my original answer still applies. Killing people is not necessarily a crime, so I stated that the reason for the killings would be relevant. If someone is convicted of a crime, they get treated decently while incarcerated.

Someone who knowingly finances criminal activity is also guilty of a crime, but there has to be a direct connection between payment and execution of the crime, a tit-for-tat transfer of money in exchange for the "hit".

[countryjake]

21. Okay, I get ya! Actually, I wasn't sure if you were aware...

which is why I only posted those emerging "details" in my first response to you.

This incident is awash in the "gasp factor", as are many of the other cases of civilian deaths, at the hands of the USA, in Afghanistan. It is disturbing, to put it mildly, to think that this chosen method of "spreading democracy" is financed with our tax-payer monies, placing the blood of all those innocents directly on our hands.

Funding death squads and high-tech "precision" air strikes wouldn't be found in the records of most American's checkbooks, so going up the chain of command and discovering exactly who is responsible for both the "raid" and the cover-up (right up to the leader in charge of this occupation), should be the decent thing to do, I believe.

[and-justice-for-all]

4. Why spare someones humanity...

that took someones life? to me, the killer does not deserve to live. But on the other hand, is putting him to death an easy out for the killer?

I do not think so, putting me to death is clearly what he deserves. I do not see the death penalty as something a decent society should shy away from.

Why spare the killer life? and to what end?

[asteroid2003QQ47]

5. Yes, lock them up for life that you might forever gaze...

into the abyss. A prison on every corner would solve the unemployment problem overnight!
For how long do you think your "decent people" in your "decent society" would remain thus?

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

--Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146

------------------------------------------------------------------
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.
--Missionaria Protectiva
Text QIV (decto)

[H2O Man]

10. Powerful.

Thank you.

[Dogtown]

23. Sockie

You both realize that the 2nd quote is from a science-fiction novel, don't you? Herbert was certainly resourceful in back-story, but there really isn't a Bene Geseret Order.

Also, Nietzsche is quoted, and misunderstood, almost as often as Shakespeare. Usually the confusion is due to being cherry-picked and taken out of context. I bet every pseudo-intellectual sophomore in America has this link bookmarked:

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Friedrich_Nietzsche/



"Powerful"? I don't think so.

[countryjake]

6. Yes. And "decent" society would brand this as an act of terrorism...

but when I read Ollie North's name involved in this war crime, visions of Abrams, death squads and the deliberate extermination of those who protest against America's policies for "Global Democracy", come to my mind, so I expect no indictments, no accountability, and these murders will be but a sneeze...a troublesome wrinkle in what our nation has planned for the people of Afghanistan.

This reeks of those search and destroy missions, conducted by the preferred "special forces" that are supposedly so efficient in their zealous pursuit of "bad" guys, a tactic which will undoubtedly continue and by all evidence, be increased, as focus shifts from one occupation to the other.

Our foreign policy is a disgrace to humanity and there's nothing decent to be found in excusing or covering up crimes of this nature.

It is heinous.

[malaise]

7. 100%

[Fumesucker]

8. Silly...

Everybody knows bombs delivered by airplane are completely different than those delivered on foot, by car or by truck.

It isn't the results that count, it's the means of delivery.

[madokie]

11. apparently so.

so sad that we can't stop our own madmen, dick and w.

[madrchsod]

12. super max...nothing but stainless steel for 23 hours a day

for the rest of their lives.

[jmowreader]

13. I'd also go for life for anyone caught aiding and abetting the killers

Yes, that means Ollie, the Hero of Iran-Contra, needs to be put in prison where he belongs and the door needs to be welded shut.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

14. Depends on the details

One obvious question was "are they sane" - if not, then possibly not.

[mmonk]

15. Irrelevant. The US isn't a decent society.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

17. I read "decent society" as deliberately ambiguous so as to avoid

portrayal of the US as such.

[AuntPatsy]

19. Yes

[Celeborn Skywalker]

22. Locked up yes.

I would still let anyone have access to books and a basic physical fitness center for one hour a day.