Is America so exceptional? The other day it bombed a hospital in Afghanistan, killing patients and many volunteer doctors. As a result, many local people have been deprived of essential emergency trauma treatment and other hospital services as the bombed hospital was the only facility of its kind serving the city of Kunduz and surrounding area. The highly respected charity running it, Médecins Sans Frontières, has called the bombing a war crime and is demanding a proper investigation of it. They emphatically point out that the GPS coordinates of the hospital were made available to the American and Afghan military forces, and there was no conceivable justification for attacking it.
I wonder what others think about this. Should America be charged and tried for a war crime (bearing in mind that it can be found innocent as well as guilty)? Should it be held accountable in the same way other countries are? Should there be one set of rules for the USA, and another set for everyone else? Does American military and economic might, and America's professed commitment to democratic principles, entitle it to special treatment? What arguments are there to back up any of these stands?
Trusted
