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February 20, 2006
Judicial stupidity alert, international edition
Proving that judges of all nationalities are intent on getting us killed, the Germans provide a marvelous example of losing sight of the forest for the trees.
February 20, 2006: A German court ruled that a hijacked aircraft could not be shot down to prevent it from crashing into a stadium full of people. The court said that the rights of the passengers on the hijacked aircraft took priority over attempts to prevent greater loss of life in the stadium.
The ruling came as Germany was organizing security for the soccer world cup. There will be a no-fly zone over the stadiums, but because of this ruling, the fighter jets patrolling the air space will not be allowed to shoot down aircraft threatening the thousands of people in a stadium.
Germany will try to come up with another way to stop a hijacked aircraft, or seek another legal solution to the prohibition on shooting down attacking aircraft.
Wartime involves assessing cost benefit analyses that result in lives being saved -- and lost. The Brits managed to decode Germany's secret military communications, meaning that the Allies often had advance notice of the enemy's next attack. But to act on that knowledge too often would result in the Germans realizing their codes were no longer secure.
With that dilemma in mind, Winston Churchil allowed the German aerial assault on the English city of Coventry to proceed with no greater defense than would be encountered by the Luftwaffe if the Brits had received no prior warning.
In other words, civilians had to die, in order that many more civilians -- and soldiers -- would live.
It was a tough decision, the kind that wartime leaders have been forced to make time and again. These decisions are not -- can not -- be decided through the calculus of the legal system. The time for lawyers and judges (regrettably) comes after the guns fall silent.
It is insane for judges to hold as a matter of law that the "rights" of passengers on one plane trump the rights of thousands in a stadium to avoid being dismembered and incinerated in a Teutonic repeat of 9/11.
And it takes insanity to an even greater level for the German government to allow its defense establishment to have its responsibility for protecting the German people be usurped by the judiciary.
Via StrategyPage.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 20, 2006 09:39 PM