|
This is not an isolated incident involving a few sleep deprived and overly drugged Marines.
It's a problem in the command climate, a general careless disregard for life that permeates the USMC (and other branches of our armed forces).
@johnny: The rules of war have been agreed on by international convention for many decades now. The conflict of noncombatant immunity vs. military necessity has long been argued, and almost always falls on the side of the noncombatant (read: anyone without a gun).
Read Just and Unjust Wars, by Michael Walzer, for greater depth on the issue. Basically, several qualifications must be met in order for a conflict to be considered just (IMO, this current fight does not come close to meeting the classical definition of a Just War). However, whether a fight is just or not aside, the rules of engagement when already in a fight do not change.
One need not fight the good fight in order to fight justly.
|