Last on Nato

There was a lot of coverage of the recent attempts by the Georgian government to recover control of secessionist areas bordering on Russia, and the aggressive response of Russian armed forces. I particularly remember the image of a Russian tank crumpling up a private car as it pushed it out of its way. There were comments about the loss of civilian life, and the wounds of others who survived, but I did not see anything precise. It seems to me that there is never enough attention paid to the civilian losses.

When NATO bombed Belgrade, during the struggle over Kosovo, there was jubilant reporting of how not one airman was lost; but how many civilians died? We hear about terrorist atrocities and the resulting loss of life, legitimate concerns; but when unmanned drones, or other targeted strikes, kill civilians, we are too often assured there was no loss of innocent life.

Life is life, and none is trivial. We have a responsibility to safeguard all life, and have no right to suggest our opponent's life is any less precious than our own.