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posted by
n1
on Thursday October 08 2015, @06:44PM
from the known-unknowns-of-collateral-damage dept.
from the known-unknowns-of-collateral-damage dept.
A Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital was bombed by the US. Result, 12 dead staff members and 10 dead patients. The coordinates of the hospital had been communicated to the US forces before to avoid mistakes. The US admits the attack was a decision. MSF is now seeking an independent inquiry.
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Afghan Hospital Bombing: MSF Demands Investigation Under Geneva Conventions
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 09 2015, @10:09AM
Be careful with that. The western world is having an aneurysm about killing a handful of civilians. The other side is waging genocide on multiple fronts with multiple armies. When we were fighting off Hitler and a target needed to be taken out, we would send 250 bombers and turn the whole area into a moonscape, kill hundreds of civilians to hit one building, and call it the cost of war.
We created smart munitions to stop that from being necessary. The fact that we are having a discussion about this shows the massive progress we have made. Still, nothing is perfect and if we activity try for perfection then we would simply be forced to let ISIS run over whatever they want while they use their usual tactics of hiding in civilian areas and using human shields.
Those millions of Syrians are running away from something. I think we should do something to stop that something, even if we aren't perfect.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday October 09 2015, @11:05AM
> When we were fighting off Hitler and a target needed to be taken out, we would send 250 bombers and turn the whole area into a moonscape, kill hundreds of civilians to hit one building, and call it the cost of war.
Yup. And immediately afterwards, that self-same "we" went and wrote & signed the 1949 Geneva Convention in an attempt to prevent that kind of shit from ever happening again. You don't get to claim the WWII generation for your side of the argument. Quite the opposite, in fact.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Friday October 09 2015, @12:16PM
no, we're having an aneurysm over the deliberate commission of a war crime - the a direct bombing of a hospital, which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions [icrc.org] no matter how you look at it.