The Biden Administration revealed that an intelligence department report confirmed that the Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had approved the operation to kill and mutilate the Washington Post reporter, Jamal Khashoggi. President Trump knew of the report for two years, but did nothing to act on it. The Biden Administration will issue no sanctions against the Crown Prince but will “recalibrate” the Saudi/U.S. relationship. They chose an interesting word, recalibrate, to define any actions again the Prince. Recalibrate means to “make SMALL changes to an instrument so that it measures more accurately.” That action does not coincide with Joe Biden’s response to a question about justice for Khashoggi’s death that he was asked during a debate. He indicated a strong response was necessary to hold the Crown Prince accountable.
Let’s shine the light of ethics on this decision. We need to simply go to two historic codes of law and ethics, one biblical and one based in the high culture of Babylon in the 1771 B.C. Lex Talionis appears in Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made mankind.” This has sometimes been misinterpreted as an “eye for an eye” or get revenge. Its actual meaning was meant to honor the sanctity of life and that “the punishment should fit the crime” which guarded against too little or too much punishment as descriptive of “justice”. St. Paul makes clear in Romans: 12;19; “Do not pay anyone evil for evil. Do not take revenge.” So, the issue here is justice not revenge.
Woven into this decision to have the punishment fit the crime immediately is the issue of whether the decision will produce a moral outcome. Utilitarianism would say that the decision must be the “greatest good for the greatest number”. This could be part of what was guiding both Trump’s and Biden’s decision to do little as doing more has the possibility of causing harm to the political relationship with the Saudis and the U.S. But part of Utilitarian theory stresses the importance that choices must have consequences. Hence, this theory is sometimes referred to as Consequentialism.
Hammurabi’s Code is one the first codes of law. He states in its prologue that he wants “to make justice VISIBLE in the land, to destroy the wicked person and the evil doer, that the STRONG MAY NOT INJURE THE WEAK.”
Let’s pretend for the moment that President Biden has read this post to this point. Here are two additional ethical points that nail down the decision to do more with a visible response to the Crown Prince’s action in addition to what is above.
Context is a big shaper of all ethical decisions. Let’s change the characters and context. What if the Crown Prince approved the killing and dismembering of a Senator or a Vice-President? Would our response change? You betcha! Our decision should be based on how highly we value peoples’ lives over against what power the Crown Prince may have. This was Hammurabi’s point to level the playing field for the weak and the strong. They should play out this decision with a new character inserted in the decision who is thought to be stronger or, dare I say, more important.
We are all paying a price? What price are we paying in this decision? Is it preparing us to love and do justice? A major part of the reason that Biden was elected was his high moral standards. Remember his statement about people who worked for him? One inappropriate comment against a colleague and you are gone.
In ethics this brings us to where Cost/Risk/Benefit analysis enters as a final but important thought. Will we “recalibrate” in a small way because of the possible loss in the transactional relationship that we have with the Saudis? Will we get more by leaving this alone as Trump did but add a small gesture in our response? Will we do something that shows that might doesn’t make right? Will we show in “big” action that every human life is of great value? Remember Khasogghi was a Washington Post journalist. We have spent four years listening to how journalists were an enemy of the people. The Prince knew what he was doing with the Trump administration. Journalists weren’t worth much in Trump’s mind so killing one wouldn’t get much of a response except if he was from “Fox and Friends”. The world is watching. Journalists are watching!
I hope the Secretary of State and President Biden know what Hammurabi, Lex Talionis, and St. Paul, would advise.
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