Question about the ethics of war

[JayKeeley]

Are there any?

Just wondering what the code of conduct is. lizard - do you know?

Question: If [country A] goes to war with [country B] and accidentally bombs a civillian outfit (e.g. residential, hospital, school), is it up to [country A] to provide necessary rehab, prosthetic limbs, hospital treatment and so forth to the wounded?

Does the Geneva convention come into play here?

I assume the dead just tally up the # for "casualties of war", an expected component of war itself, but I'm thinking about the wounded.

It's just that we always see headcount for the # of dead, but we rarely see how many people are wounded in battle, where most wounds are permanent. If [country A] can send their troops home for medical treatment, who looks after the folks from [country B]?

 

[J.]

I thought it was almost comical that the US was accusing the Iraqis of breaking the Geneva Convention by dressing up as civilians and then opening fire. I guess the US doesnt care that we pretty much illegally invaded a country, and all so we could get oil, only to see our supply plummet and prices soar. Didn't we invade so we'd pay less? Eh, another argument for another day.

Anyway, the old adage holds true: All's fair in love and war.

 

[lizard]

it may fall under some part of recognized international law, but even though I took that in college, I can't recall [/toke]

completely different from the military services' code of conduct for servicemembers tho, for sure...and I don't think part of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).

 

[AsModEe]

I thought it was almost comical that the US was accusing the Iraqis of breaking the Geneva Convention by dressing up as civilians and then opening fire. I guess the US doesnt care that we pretty much illegally invaded a country, and all so we could get oil, only to see our supply plummet and prices soar. Didn't we invade so we'd pay less? Eh, another argument for another day.

Anyway, the old adage holds true: All's fair in love and war.

so you'd pay less? Pretty ironic considering how much that war cost to your country.

 

[JayKeeley]

so you'd pay less? Pretty ironic considering how much that war cost to your country.

I read yesterday that the war so far has cost $315 billion.

The equivalent of 800,000 housing units, or 13 MILLION university scholarships.

Can you imagine the strength of the nation's workforce with 13 million more folks with university degrees?

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

But you freed the Iraqi people! Now they are free to: get bombed, vote and get bombed, bomb US soliders, bomb collaborators, bomb their own police.

 

[JayKeeley]

it may fall under some part of recognized international law, but even though I took that in college, I can't recall [/toke]

completely different from the military services' code of conduct for servicemembers tho, for sure...and I don't think part of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).

OK but do you know whether we're currently supporting rehab programs for wounded Iraqi's -- those wounded by our mistakes?

I know J said all is fair in love and war, but it's not like both countries wanted to go to war is it? One invaded another. It's not like this is USA vs Soviet Union where both would have been willing participants.

 

[lizard]

I just did a bit of googling and cannot find something specific, at least, not right away.

 

[JayKeeley]

Man, I thought you'd be all over this!

OK lizard, allow me to threadjack. If I friggin' loved Brave Two Zero, what should I read next?

 

[Russell]

I thought it was almost comical that the US was accusing the Iraqis of breaking the Geneva Convention by dressing up as civilians and then opening fire.

Also, isn't Guantanamo Bay a direct breach of the Geneva Convention?

I always find it galling to hear the US government complain when other countries fail to uphold the Geneva Convention, when - to the best of my knowledge - they only follow it when it suits them.

 

[lizard]

oh man...I just saw that movie the other week, with Sean Bean.
McNab's 2nd nonfiction was okay but not as good as B2Zero...he's also written like four novels.

a slightly different tack is "My War Gone By, I Miss it So" by Anthony Loyd, a brit who left the military and decided to become a war photographer during the Balkans crisis. Complicating his story is that he had a bit of a heroin habit.

I know I'll think of some more...

 

[dorian gray]

humans fuck up everything

 

[lizard]

New U.S. Aid Provisions
For Civilian War Victims In Iraq And Afghanistan
NEWS BACKGROUNDER
May 15, 2003

Public Law 108-11, the "Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003," contains a provision authored and sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that authorizes the use of Iraq relief and reconstruction funds to aid Iraqi civilians who suffered losses as a result of the military operations. This provision is similar to one Leahy sponsored for Afghan civilians, which has resulted in the allocation of $2.5 million to assist communities and families who suffered losses as a result of U.S. bombs that missed their targets.

Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Operations (of the Senate Appropriations Committee), has long led efforts to help civilian victims of war. In 1989 he created a special fund, now called the "Leahy War Victims Fund (LWVF)," which is administered by USAID to provide relief to civilians who have been disabled as a result of civil strife and warfare. To date the LWVF has allocated more than $90 million for this purpose in more than15 countries. Leahy, also the leading advocate among U.S. officials for an international landmines ban, has spoken frequently about the increasing numbers of noncombatants who are killed or injured in wars, particularly as a result of landmines and cluster bombs.


this would lead one to believe that it is not international guidelines which dictate aid, but random bills in congress?

 

[cthulufhtagn]

humans fuck up everything

humanity never fails to disappoint me

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

awww come on guys. Humanity is great!!!!

I mean.

We've built cities
and towns
and communities
and religions
and clearcuts
and strip mines
and kill each other
and wipe out entire species of animal for money
and basically are quadruple stuffing the ass of the planet.

 

[cthulufhtagn]

and basically are quadruple stuffing the ass of the planet.

the biggest problem of all, the problems grow exponentially with the population

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

yep

 

[cthulufhtagn]

"quadruple stuffing the ass of the planet"

nicely put btw

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

what can I say, i'm a cunning linguist.

 

[cthulufhtagn]

and i'm Phil Atio