The Paris terrorists attacked a principle central to all liberal democracies: the freedom to speak one’s mind freely, without fear of being locked up gunned down.
Robert White never forgot the murders of four churchwomen in El Salvador, and never ceased pressing for better political and economic conditions in Latin America.
Are those who died heroes and martyrs for free speech and tolerance? Not every victim is a martyr, and one does not become a hero simply by offending people.
I am sad for France of course, for the journalists and the others who died. But mainly I am sad for mankind. For the person who got shot, but also for him who fired.
In defending the use of drones, Obama has classical just-war tradition on his side. But just-war tradition has come to be read in a new and legalistic way.