"The enemy of my enemy is my friend". I think that everybody (or almost everybody) believes that this old saying, which, like most old sayings carries a lot of truth in it. I was thinking about this the other day when the news reached me that the American President had ordered his military allegedly full of drugs and carrying them to Trinidad. For the avoidance of doubt, let me say that I consider ANYBODY engaged in the trafficking or distribution of illegal drugs (from drug lords to traffickers and everybody in between) to be my enemy.
Therefore, I was quite pleased with this news, but (and it is a big "But") when I started to think about it, I realized that the very action which pleased me was also an action that all right thinking people should condemn, You see, at the core of our democracy (and every democracy) is the belief that everybody is entitled to a fair trial. And although I am more than willing to believe that the destroyed boat was full of drugs, I don't know this beyond any reasonable doubt. And according to the news 11 men were killed in that exercise. Were they guilty? Without a trial , it is not possible to say. Do I believe that they were guilty? The short answer is 'yes', but do I KNOW? The short answer is 'no'.
Either we believe in a system of justice, or we don't. And our system requires - no, demands - that everybody is considered innocent until proven guilty. The 11 men who were killed may have been guilty of trafficking drugs. But the case against them was never proved nor was any evidence presented. And either we adhere strictly to our rules or we don't. Let me put it this way: if we accept this killing because we believe them to be guilty (without them being tried), where and when is any extra-judicial killing (i.e., where there is no trial) justified? Believe it or not, your answer (to yourself) is more important than you think.
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