"All war aims for impunity"
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"All war aims for impunity" takes the comforting fiction of "just war" and snaps it in half. Ignatieff isn’t claiming every soldier is a criminal; he’s naming a political instinct that rides shotgun with every campaign: the desire to act without consequences. War, by design, concentrates power, accelerates decisions, and loosens the normal moral and legal speed limits. Once leaders decide that survival, security, or national destiny is at stake, exemptions start to look like necessities.
The line works because it reframes war not as a clash of armies but as a contest over accountability. "Impunity" is the real prize: freedom from prosecution, scrutiny, shame, even history’s verdict. It’s what lets civilian casualties become "collateral", torture become "enhanced", and aggression become "preemption". The euphemisms aren’t accidental; they’re the linguistic infrastructure of impunity, a way to keep democracies feeling clean while doing dirty work.
Ignatieff’s context matters. As a public intellectual who later entered politics, he watched liberal states sell interventions as humanitarian, then grapple with Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and the post-9/11 elasticity of executive power. The subtext is a warning to countries that see themselves as rule-makers: war tempts even the principled to demand a special pass. The intent isn’t pacifist resignation so much as democratic vigilance: if war naturally reaches for impunity, the only counterforce is institutions stubborn enough to deny it, especially when denial is unpopular.
The line works because it reframes war not as a clash of armies but as a contest over accountability. "Impunity" is the real prize: freedom from prosecution, scrutiny, shame, even history’s verdict. It’s what lets civilian casualties become "collateral", torture become "enhanced", and aggression become "preemption". The euphemisms aren’t accidental; they’re the linguistic infrastructure of impunity, a way to keep democracies feeling clean while doing dirty work.
Ignatieff’s context matters. As a public intellectual who later entered politics, he watched liberal states sell interventions as humanitarian, then grapple with Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and the post-9/11 elasticity of executive power. The subtext is a warning to countries that see themselves as rule-makers: war tempts even the principled to demand a special pass. The intent isn’t pacifist resignation so much as democratic vigilance: if war naturally reaches for impunity, the only counterforce is institutions stubborn enough to deny it, especially when denial is unpopular.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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