Only a Billion Times Worse

I find it surprising to hear so many commentators talk about the need to replace the NATO presence in Afghanistan with a Muslim presence. I'm totally on board with removing the NATO presence. But replacing it with a Muslim presence? I am not cool with that... not by a long shot.

My central thesis is this: The conduct of Western militaries tends to be (for the most part) a little bit more ethical than that of Muslim militaries. I would not want to be occupied by a Western army. And I definitely would not want to be occupied by a Muslim army.

Let us look at the conduct of Western militaries during times of war. Here are just 3 examples:

The US Armed Forces have used white phosphorus in Iraq. This is a chemical that burns layer after layer of tissue... until you have no more skin left.

Israel - another Western military - has also used white phosphorus in Lebanon and in Gaza (against civilian populations).

The US has also launched air strikes in Afghanistan, and the victims of these have been mostly civilians (according to counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen, an advisor to General David PetraeusGeneral David Petraeus).

And last month, German warplanes in Afghanistan bombed 2 tankers filled with fuel; 60 people (mostly civilians) died and dozens were injured.

And now let's look at the conduct of Muslim militaries during times of war:

In 1988, the Iraqi army gassed 5,000 Kurdish civilians.

From 1980 to 1988, the Iraqi army used chemical weapons that killed 100,000 Iranians (mostly civilians).

In 1970, the Jordanian army massacred 25,000 Palestinians (mostly civilians) in less than a month.

In 1982, the Syrian army butchered 40,000 people (mostly civilians) in less than 24 hours.

In 1971, the Pakistani army committed genocide against 3 million Bangladeshis (mostly civilians) in less than 10 months.

Let's compare torture techniques used by Western and Muslim militaries.

The US Armed Forces have used waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and more.

In Egypt, the security forces are known to lash prisoners until they collapse, pull out their hair and nails, set wild dogs loose on them in their prison cells, assault their families and destroy their homes... and even use a metal rod to sodomize them as they scream in agony.

As terrible as it is to be occupied by a Western army, it's only a billion times worse to be occupied by a Muslim army.