Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by WillyPete
It is the military's first priority that any action should not lead to the death of civilians if at all possible.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dragonlich
Sorry, but I think you're mistaken. It's the military's first priority to protect themselves, not any civilians. They should *try* to protect them, but not at their own expense.
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I think you read me wrong. I didn't say protect the civillians.
I said that their planned or unplanned actions should not obviously endanger civilians.
I could twist what you say and make it sound like you'd justify nuking fallujah just because there were some terrorists there and you'd definitely lose a lot of troops in a campaign to take it.
But I won't because I agree with you, a troop's first priority is self preservation and the assigned mission. In the quoted case, a stray bullet hits, your priority is cover and then attempt to find the shooter. Not open fire on innocents. (Again: if this account IS accurate)
If a marine is assigned to laser designate a scud, and he sees that the scud is surrounded by children and the scud is being raised to launch, then goodbye kiddies.
If he's observing the target and he sees it driving past a school, then he should try and hold off
if possible and then lase it when it has cleared a relatively safe distance from the school.
That's the kind of thing I was getting at.
The example about the guy taking out the rpg'er is a good example too.