Thread: Torture
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Old 10-23-2007, 06:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
You want us to abide by rules that don't work and want us to excuse the enemy for not abiding by those rules. This is what we call a "double standard", the result of which is a higher likelihood of dead American soldiers. You're okay with that?

The Geneva Conventions did not exist in 1776.
More hair splitting. Whether the Geneva Conventions existed or not in 1776 has nothing to do with natural human inclinations under such circumstances.

I'm not asking anyone to excuse any enemy, just to note what is likely to happen under long established norms of human behavior. If you were a poor farmer and some foreign force invaded and your neighbors were clamoring for a force to oppose them, and tomorrow if not today, I seriously doubt you'd say, "Oh but wait neighbors, we must first sew uniforms so that we will abide by their rules of warfare."

These characters are not the well developed societies of Germany and Japan circa 1938.

Behaving in such a way as to insure a centuries long animosity from people for whom vengeance is like mother's milk is likely to result in "a higher likelihood of dead American soldiers." Doesn't sound preferable to me.

You apparently think we can insure peaceful compliance with force alone. I do not.
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