We’ve been hearing (and reading) a lot about the (alleged) extra-judicial killings (EJK) in the Philippines. The president of this island nation, Rodrigo Duterte has been peppered with a lot of criticism, both in his (my) country and overseas, for the increasing number of deaths attributed on the government’s war against drugs. As of September 30, 2016, there has been more than 2,800 suspected addicts and drug dealers killed.

It is understandable for the United Nations to be concerned and say a mouthful about these extra-judicial killings happening in the Philippines. But has the United Nations been doing anything (or, at least,  been saying anything) about killing of innocent civilians (KIC) in different parts of the world.

The United Nations, in a way, called the attention directly of Duterte, asking him to explain.

What about Obama? Has his attention been called by the United Nations to explain the spate of mass shootings and indiscriminate killings of African-Americans happening in his country?

So, is this a matter of when it is the government of a poor nation allegedly committing a crime against humanity the United Nations will have to say something but turns a blind eye when it is a government of a rich powerful country committing the same. The US police are allegedly shooting helpless civilians in broad daylight and the United Nations has yet to issue a policy statement on the matter.

When we argue that the war on drugs can be approached in a way that does not necessitate killing why don’t we also say that peace in Syria can be achieved without carpet bombing a community where properties are utterly destroyed and hundreds of innocent lives are lost.

Compare the more or less 2,800 suspected addicts and drug dealers killed in the Philippines to the number of innocent civilians the US, UK and Russia killed in the hundreds of airstrikes they made in countries where they are fighting terrorists.

So, is it a case of the human rights of those dead drug addicts and drug dealers matter and the lives of those innocent civilians getting killed in war-torn areas don’t.

Have the United Nations reprimanded these countries? Why won’t the United Nations ask the countries aforementioned to find a peaceful resolution to the conflicts in these areas in the Middle East without resorting to killing the ones they call terrorists?

Of course that’s not possible. The only way to deal with suicidal terrorists who are out to disrupt peace and indiscriminately kill, is to fight them tooth and nail, hoping that when the smoke dissipates it is the good that remains standing. That is the same with the drug dealers in the Philippines. They are worse than the terrorists because it is the family, the basic foundation of our society, that they are destroying. They will never stop selling drugs. It is so unfortunate but the only way for them to cease plying their dangerous and life-ruining trade is to kill them (but only when they refuse to surrender and opt to fight authorities.)

As Duterte said in one of his press briefings, both Philippine’s  EJK and America’s KIC are appalling. But between killing  a drug dealer and a drug addict (who has the potential of becoming a thief, a rapist, and a murderer) and an innocent peace-loving African-American, which one deserves more condemnation?

Remember when Duterte was interviewed by a foreign correspondent about the rising number of  drug addicts and drug dealers getting killed in the Philippines and he responded by calling that correspondent’s attention to US policemen killing innocent African-American civilians? Well, to date, more addicts and drug dealers and innocent African-American civilians are getting killed in the Philippines and in the US, respectively.

It is a question of whose lives should the Philippine authorities  value more, those of the drug addicts and drug dealers or those of the innocent people getting victimized by the drug menace.

But it seems that the world media is ganging-up on President Duterte for the way he chose to wage war against drug dealers. The world media has suddenly become concerned about killings. What about digging into   the allegations of Prof. John Mc Murtry, a world-renowned Canadian philosopher,  who argues that “the United States holds the world record of illegal killings of unarmed civilians and extrajudicial detention and torturing of prisoners who are detained without trial.” [1]

I know that the people who make up the U.S. government are decent, peace-loving and God-fearing individuals. This is the reason that I am inclined not to believe Mc Murtry’s imputations. He probably was just hallucinating when he opined that the U.S. government is a gigantic mass-murdering machine which earns profit through waging war.

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1. http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-holds-the-world-record-of-killings-innocent-civilians/5393789