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Friday, May 9, 2008 12:00 AM

Killing by the numbers

In 2007 elite U.S. snipers executed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in cold blood. Have the insidious tactics that led to atrocities in Vietnam reemerged in Iraq?

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  • Friday, May 9, 2008 07:21 AM

    @ sequoiap

    I'm really not trying to be mean, but have you been living in a cave or something. Nebulous and ostentatious are quite commonly used words. Tautology is not, but you didn't get the meaning correct. It does mean logic. It is an element of logic. A tautology is a compound propositional form in which all instances are true - as in 'Obama will win or Obama won't win'. For the moment, both are true. It can also be used as a rhetorical device - endless repetition of a single idea to skew a discussion.

    With regard to 'hors de combat', that expression is a diplomatic expression that has been used by most countries for hundreds of years. It is the phrase used in the Geneva Convention. It is precisely the correct phrase.

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