Going back one more time to the subject of last week - exactly what is genocide? If the U.S. government is placing its whole authority into this accusation against Islamic State, then we need clarity about what it is.
It was a new term in the 1940's to describe the coordinated effort to exterminate a group by murder and may include violence to their art, historical record, language. Think of IS destroying ancient sculpture, churches - the goal is to wipe non-Islamic groups off the map and out of history.
Jewish/Polish lawyer and scholar Raphael Lemkin's definition of the new term was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. He had in mind the examples of Simele, Iraq, where Assyrian Christians were targeted in 1933 by the Iraqi government, and Ukraine, where the Soviet Union starved 5 million in order to stamp out political resistance.
America has united politically to denounce genocide. In this time of extreme disagreement on so many things, I'm glad my country can unite on this.
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