Back in 1996, Secretary of State Madeline Albright said on national television that the death of 500,000 Iraqi children was "worth it" in order to carry out U.S. policy. It appears that a similar sentiment is being expressed in the U.S.'s war versus ISIS.
Antiwar.com reports:
Top State Department officials Julieta Valis Noyes, discussing the US concerns with ISIS oil revenue, has revealed that the administration considers attacking oil pipelines in Syria a “viable” military option.ISIS may be capitalizing on oil pipelines that they've seized in Syria, but those pipelines are also used by regular and innocent Syrians for their local economies. Bombing those pipelines would be disastrous and deadly.
Now, the Randian and neocon impulse may be that "there are no innocents in war," but that's total barbaric nonsense.
Just because there are many Syrians living under the boot of ISIS, doesn't mean they support or endorse them. ISIS has formed a de facto state, where they tax their victims and exploit everything in sight. The victims do their best, under the circumstances, to survive.
The same applies to the victims of every state, including the United States. We Americans do our best to survive, despite being robbed and looted by the government. It doesn't mean we support or endorse what they do.
Antiwar.com continues:
Strikes on oil pipelines in Syria would risk huge environment damage and massive civilian casualties across the ISIS-held territory, which would be a huge embarrassment for the US, and would also give various factions all the more excuse to attack pipelines themselves.Unfortunately, as Madeline Albright proved, the U.S. Empire has moved way beyond the "huge embarrassment" stage. Nothing seems to be off limits to them. Taking out innocent Iraqis or Syrians is unfortunately (in their eyes) "worth it" and "viable."
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