The value of writing about writer’s block is that, sometimes, it makes the block disappear. At least temporarily. Thus, within hours of my earlier post regading a very persistent and frustrating case of writer’s block, this story caught my attention …
The International Committee of the Red Cross is defending its practice of providing medical training and basic medical supplies to the Taliban in Afghanistan — saying it is in line with the ICRC’s mandate not to discriminate between different sides in a conflict.
There is no question that the ICRC makes some enormous contributions around the world for which it should be praised and supported. But it is preposterous that they would be providing aid of any kind to the Taliban – at a time when they are responsible for slaughtering hundreds of innocent Afghani civilians and Coalition forces by the day as well as being a key driver in the spread of Islamic jihadism.
Let me be even more blunt: When the only recourse to stop very bad people from doing very bad things is to use deadly force against them, then it defies every conceivable strand of logic to train the bad people how to mitigate the inevitable outcomes of deadly force.
Granted, if the aforementioned very bad people are injured then captured, that’s different. It’s different because they’ve been removed from the field of battle; they’ve been removed from the arena in which they can do harm. In those cases, behind lock and key, they should be afforded every page of humane treatment in the book. But while they’re still on the field of battle, while they’re still free to inflict harm and are actively trying to do so, the only options are for them to either surrender or suffer the consequences without respite or relief.