YNATKC (cont’d.)

YNATKC (cont’d.) July 28, 2006

"You're not allowed to kill civilians."

That sentence, deliberately, lacks specificity. The "you" is universal — it refers to everyone. No one is allowed to kill civilians.

Feel free to provide particulars, to make the statement more specific:

"Bob is not allowed to kill civilians."

Let's be clear that this sentence does not include an unspoken "only" at the beginning. It should not be read as "[Only] Bob is not allowed to kill civilians," but rather as "Bob [like everyone else] is not allowed to kill civilians."

What's true universally is also true specifically for Bob. So let's not just pick on Bob.

* Al-Qaida is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Badr Brigade is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Red Brigade is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Christian Service Brigade is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The American military is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Hamas is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Hezbollah is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The IDF is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The ATF is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The RAF is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The IRA is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The IRS is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Dick Cheney is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Blackwater is not allowed to kill civilians.

* KBR/Halliburton is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Janjaweed are not allowed to kill civilians.

* Alan Dershowitz is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Mahdi Army is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The United Nations is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Bill Clinton is not allowed to kill civilians.

* Bill Clinton's penis is not allowed to kill civilians.

* The Tribulation Force is not allowed to kill civilians.

You're not allowed to kill civilians.

More than a few of the groups listed above are, intolerably, killing civilians. This needs to stop.

Some of these groups are, of course, evil terrorist organizations. Evil terrorist organizations are unlikely to stop killing civilians because, by definition, this is what evil terrorist organizations do.

Other groups listed above are not evil terrorist organizations. Those groups ought to consider that continuing to kill civilians makes them more, not less, like the evil terrorist organizations they are rightly fighting against.

You're not allowed to kill civilians.


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