On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:31:08 -0500 Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com>
writes:
>
> On Nov 14, 2009, at 8:02 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
>
> > By the way, not counting German civilians, who did Churchill mass
>
> > murder?
>
> Well, to someone for whom German babies don't count Bengali peasants
>
> certainly count much less.
We shouldn't forget Churchill's advocacy of the use of poison gas against the Kurds in Iraq in 1919. As he put it:
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_British_use_of_gas_in_Mesopotamia_i n_1920>
Ultimately, it was decided not to use gas on the Kurds but apparently this decision was taken on the basis of practical technical considerations rather than moral ones.
In the General Strike of 1926, Churchill called for the use of machine guns against the striking coal miners.
>
>
> Shane Mage
>
> > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> > kindling in measures and going out in measures."
> >
> > Herakleitos of Ephesos
>
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>
>
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