“we have found a mass grave of mutiliated people, in particular women and children showing clear signs of torture and execution. We need an Investigation immediately!”
is:
“Yes you are absolutely right, we will support an immediate investigation. Also we will halt any support for people who are suspected of being responsible.”
“We will do something about it”, “we’re not sure if we are going to do something” and “no we won’t do something” seem like three distinct answers to me. Saying the last one would be a much more definite no than just “we’ll see”. Saying the US refuses to back it makes it sound like the last one imo, which would be a bit misleading.
But we are not talking about “The toilet paper in the school restrooms seems to always be empty.” We are talking about the uncovering of mass graves with strong indications of women and children being executed. Anything below immediate action on the matter is a form of opposition to it.
Or in other words, when you call the firefighters because your house is on fire then “we’ll see if we will do something about the fire, maybe, maybe not.” means that they will let your house burn down.
Firefighters have the assumption that it’s their job to do something about it. I don’t think the same is true for USA here. But even in the firefighter example in news headlines I’d make a distinction between them telling you they’re refusing and them waiting and seeing if their presence is necessary. It makes sense for a news headline imo.
The only non refusing answer to:
“we have found a mass grave of mutiliated people, in particular women and children showing clear signs of torture and execution. We need an Investigation immediately!”
is:
“Yes you are absolutely right, we will support an immediate investigation. Also we will halt any support for people who are suspected of being responsible.”
“We will do something about it”, “we’re not sure if we are going to do something” and “no we won’t do something” seem like three distinct answers to me. Saying the last one would be a much more definite no than just “we’ll see”. Saying the US refuses to back it makes it sound like the last one imo, which would be a bit misleading.
But we are not talking about “The toilet paper in the school restrooms seems to always be empty.” We are talking about the uncovering of mass graves with strong indications of women and children being executed. Anything below immediate action on the matter is a form of opposition to it.
Or in other words, when you call the firefighters because your house is on fire then “we’ll see if we will do something about the fire, maybe, maybe not.” means that they will let your house burn down.
Firefighters have the assumption that it’s their job to do something about it. I don’t think the same is true for USA here. But even in the firefighter example in news headlines I’d make a distinction between them telling you they’re refusing and them waiting and seeing if their presence is necessary. It makes sense for a news headline imo.