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Were all US soldiers in the Revolutionary War war criminals? What about the North in the Civil War? Or WWI/WWII? Nearly every soldier in any war will have dire
by blackqueeriroh 2mo ago
Were all US soldiers in the Revolutionary War war criminals? What about the North in the Civil War? Or WWI/WWII?
Nearly every soldier in any war will have directly or indirectly killed an innocent civilian. Which ones are war crimes and which aren’t?
How do you decide and who gives you the authority to do so?
- kelseyfrog 2mo agoCorrect. Either all soldiers are war criminals or none of them are. The world is black or white, without nuance.
- ciupicri 2mo agoWhat does indirectly killed mean?
- tough 2mo agoSounds like a weird way to phrase collateral damage?
- crote 2mo agoCollateral murder.
- Sabinus 2mo agoCivilians die in wars, and that's with the best intentions of all parties to the conflict. If one or both has got radicalised, then a lot of civilians die in war.
- drekipus 2mo agoThis is the Israeli take that is continually pushed to normalize their approach to "removing baby terrorists"
- bijowo1676 2mo agoyou are justifying 9/11 attack on the US, the similar logic to yours was used by Al-Qaeda
- Sabinus 2mo agoNo, I'm explaining to you that accidental civilian casualties in a war is a normal part of the terrible activity that is war. Good soldiers with the best of intentions will kill civilians in a war, because war is chaotic and very dangerous. Radicalised soldiers and armies will give less and less concern to civilians, and at a certain hated level civilians actually will get targeted by individual soldiers or squads. If it then moves up the command chain and there's not enough accountability or pushback from the top leadership then you get to proper genocidal actions like what happened at Srebrenica. Targeting civilians for death is not acceptable or justifiable.
- bijowo1676 2mo ago> civilian casualties in a war is a normal part > Targeting civilians for death is not acceptable or justifiable. so we have numerous evidence of US and its allied forces deliberatly murdering civilians and nothing happens. Why do you think targeting is not acceptable? from the evidence of dead innocent civilians, it sure as hell, seems like the military people think its acceptable and justifiable (which you just tried to justify by calling it "normal part")
- FrinkleFrankle 2mo agoI'd say anyone who chooses to kill a civilian, whether based on an order or not, is a war criminal. I really don't care if they thought they were there for a noble cause or not.
- akoboldfrying 2mo agoWhat if they choose to kill a person who was a civilian until they were drafted into the enemy army the day before? What if the civilian they kill has a substantial effect on the enemy's military capabilities, for example by being someone famous who loudly endorses the honour of signing up to fight for one's country, thereby motivating thousands of young men to do just that?
- iamnothere 2mo agoWhat if killing a soldier’s children might make him lose his resolve or act erratically? What if destroying an entire city full of millions of civilians might make the enemy lose hope and surrender? What if poisoning the land and water for decades could prevent the enemy from reconstituting itself? What if killing all the women could prevent the production of future soldiers? Once you open the door, where do you draw the line?
- akoboldfrying 2mo agoI interpret your examples as further evidence (in addition to the examples I gave) that there is no sensible justification for distinguishing military from civilian casualties. Was that your intention?
- iamnothere 2mo agoOn the contrary, I was fully intending to show that you need a hard line between civilian and military when considering military action, or mass atrocities and even genocide are almost certain. It’s a little concerning that you didn’t understand that, or willfully misunderstood that. Make sure you don’t lose your humanity.
- megous 2mo agoWho gives US president authority to just murder whoever he wants?
- singingtoday 2mo agoUS voters
- SturgeonsLaw 2mo agoA group which has been known to collectively make a mistake or two
- megous 2mo agoAnd they get the authority from where?
- throwaway902984 2mo agoNobody. He just seized it. No one gave it to him; hence their upset that people like duterte are being kept in the Hague.