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daswig · 10-20-2004, 12:00 AM

Once again, host, you've failed to cite a single example where GIs cut of heads or limbs.

Some bad things happened there. Yes, GIs poisoned enemy food supplies. They even snuck into enemy ammo dumps and replaced some of their munitions with "doctored" ammunition filled with PETN, designed to blow the weapons up when used. Corpses WERE dismembered during AIR STRIKES, just as corpses were dismembered in EVERY war where air power was used. But cut the heads off of living people? Your very, very, VERY long cut and paste didn't provide a SINGLE example of anything REMOTELY similar to that. Civilians were indeed shot, mostly in "free fire" areas, where the enemy controlled the countryside. Why? Because the enemy didn't wear uniforms (as required by international law) and all of the friendly civilians had already been evacuated.

Remember this picture? <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/images/00000008.gif" img>

Did you know that what happened in that picture was NOT a war crime? That the individual executed was actually an enemy officer caught in civilian clothes after murdering the family of the shooter's subordinate, and that his summary execution was in fact LEGAL under the international protocols? Yeah, it sucked to be him, but then again, maybe, JUST maybe, he shouldn't have been doing what he was doing that led to his execution.

You talk about Jane Fonda's efforts to stop the US destruction of the North Vietnamese rice crop by destroying the dikes. Do you likewise decry the Allies destroying dams in Germany to flood industrial areas (lots of people drowned), or the program to destroy Germany's ability to grow food (lots of people starved)? How about the carpetbombing of the Ruhr? Lots of civilians died there. How about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the firebombings of Tokyo, which killed more civilians than the A-bombs did?

How exactly are you supposed to fight a war against very bad people without killing their supporters? Even Lenin said (paraphrasing) you can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs.

10-20-2004, 12:00 AM	#86 (permalink)
daswig Banned Location: BFE	Once again, host, you've failed to cite a single example where GIs cut of heads or limbs. Some bad things happened there. Yes, GIs poisoned enemy food supplies. They even snuck into enemy ammo dumps and replaced some of their munitions with "doctored" ammunition filled with PETN, designed to blow the weapons up when used. Corpses WERE dismembered during AIR STRIKES, just as corpses were dismembered in EVERY war where air power was used. But cut the heads off of living people? Your very, very, VERY long cut and paste didn't provide a SINGLE example of anything REMOTELY similar to that. Civilians were indeed shot, mostly in "free fire" areas, where the enemy controlled the countryside. Why? Because the enemy didn't wear uniforms (as required by international law) and all of the friendly civilians had already been evacuated. Remember this picture? <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/images/00000008.gif" img> Did you know that what happened in that picture was NOT a war crime? That the individual executed was actually an enemy officer caught in civilian clothes after murdering the family of the shooter's subordinate, and that his summary execution was in fact LEGAL under the international protocols? Yeah, it sucked to be him, but then again, maybe, JUST maybe, he shouldn't have been doing what he was doing that led to his execution. You talk about Jane Fonda's efforts to stop the US destruction of the North Vietnamese rice crop by destroying the dikes. Do you likewise decry the Allies destroying dams in Germany to flood industrial areas (lots of people drowned), or the program to destroy Germany's ability to grow food (lots of people starved)? How about the carpetbombing of the Ruhr? Lots of civilians died there. How about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the firebombings of Tokyo, which killed more civilians than the A-bombs did? How exactly are you supposed to fight a war against very bad people without killing their supporters? Even Lenin said (paraphrasing) you can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs.