Tiberius Wrote:In a war, there are rules of engagement. It is acceptable to kill the enemy if they are trying to kill you. It is not acceptable to kill unarmed civilians, especially if they are your own citizens.
Perhaps not acceptable to you, but they are not you. What is acceptable to someone else... is up to their discretion. Subjectivity, y'know...
Quote:Right, and if they are on foreign soil, the foreign government should be contacted for permission to proceed with an operation, or an arrest warrant requested with an extradition treaty. No country has a right to march into another - uninvited - and kill or capture some person, without first making a declaration of war, and even then the prisoner must be treated under the protocols of the Geneva convention.
Making a declaration of war is a mistake if the goal is maximal damage inflicted/minimal damage taken... attack first, and do not give your enemy time to prepare. There was a world before the Geneva convention... an agreement between many nations (but not all). The moment the pact is fractured, our species will again return to *openly* engaging in such behaviors that 'defy the convention'. Guantanamo Bay remains open, how prisoners 'must' be treated doesn't seem to have much affected how they are treated, and even with the mighty Geneva Convetion: who has the power or inclination to stop it?
If foreign soil cannot repel your armies seeking an individual/group and imprisoning them... then perhaps they should just get out of your way, as the weak have no right to stand before the strong? This can be demonstrated by the mighty butchering the fools who oppose them. 'Rights' don't mean shit unless the state declaring them has sufficient power to back them up.
Quote:Here's a suggestion: Don't break international law in order to get to someone in another country, whether it is to capture or to kill them.
Better idea... if you so fear the reaction of many nations, and still desire such an overextended act: do so quietly. Hunt down and assassinate the mark(s).
Quote:A lot of war crimes were committed by both sides in WWII. Shooting unarmed Germans trying to flee would be illegal these days.
Certainly illegal... but many states hold hypocritical power. And why should they not?
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
