----- Original Message ----- From: "Seth Ackerman" <sackerman at FAIR.org>
> Ian Murray wrote:
>
> > Much as I'd like to sympathize with the above -particularly the
last
> > sentence- we have no way of knowing just what justice would
consist of
> > under the current circumstances.
> >
> > Suppose the US state was able to present evidence "beyond a shadow
of
> > a doubt" that ObL and his networks "masterminded" the deed. With
> > minimal loss of life we capture them and bring them before an
> > international criminal court, whose mandate is sufficiently
impartial
> > that it can be used against a Kissinger and Pinochet etc. ObL is
> > tried, found guilty and then what? Who has the authority to
determine
> > whether he lives or dies? Who? And would we be able to say justice
was
> > achieved?
> .
> Well, a crime is a crime. If you saw a lynch mob brutally attack
some
> hapless undesirable in your neighborhood, what would you want to see
happen?
> You would want the police to find the perps, arrest them, convict
them, and
> put them away, right?
==============
Ok so you don't advocate for the death penalty on this one? Just
asking; if not how is the current US response justified if innocent
people are dying in the process of apprehending the suspect?
> What if the police did nothing? You would feel something was amiss,
wouldn't
> you? Even though you knew that jailing the guilty wouldn't solve all
the
> problems of human subjectivity and alienation that led to the crime.
Even
> though you know that cops and courts are imperfect, often ugly
institutions.
> Even though no one could say with divine certainty that justice had
been
> done.
>
> Most people in America have witnessed an awful crime and want
something
> done. That's perfectly natural, but it's also dangerous, since their
leaders
> are always willing to grab a pretext for doing awful things of their
own.
> That's the point of thinking about what the right response to Sept
11 is.
> It's to figure out what can be done to satisfy people's natural
desire for
> justice while forestalling something even more horrible from taking
place.
>
> Seth
============
Again you're begging the question that what is to be done is
subsumable under the concept of justice. How can we know that is the
case is what I'm asking.
Ian