Quote from Wallet:
Regardless of what fairy tale beliefs you like to hold on too, there ain't no fucking rules in a war other than kill the enemy until he surrenders or is eliminated.... you try to do this with every option available to you while trying to keep casualties on your side as low as possible.
If I can drop a cluster bomb, and save the life of my troops or make their job easier... then drop two!
You were not there, and I'd trust my commander in the field over any bleeding heart reporter.
Ask yourself why both sides Allies and Axis bombed cities during WWII.
When the enemy moves their operations within the confines of the population it leaves little recourse if you want to tale those enemy troops or positions out.
When the fight becomes intense, believe me the only people left are the ones your after.... the local residents are long gone.
Well, I don't believe in fairytales either - that's for sure. I agree that this really is a question of principles: Are civilians legitimate targets in a war? The Geneva convention which the US is party of says no. Do you also agree that terrorism towards civilian targets is legitimate? Most do not. So yes, there are in fact rules of war - and if you've been a solider (I get that impression) it's your damn duty to know those rules.
Oh, but the civilian deaths are 'accidents', they're not the intended targets. Really? When you drop the bomb, you pretty much know what you're going to hit - at least that's the way it is nowadays.
So where would we have been without the London blitz, the Dresden bombings, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs... These were all targetted against civilians, of course. I think the days of international conventions after WW2 are past, as they're not respected anymore but states such as the USA. And, you've got militants/terrorists who doesn't respect it of course as well.
I agree that when enemies operate amongst civilians, you cannot escape that there will be civilian deaths as you still need to fight them down. However, your finaly point is not always right - sometimes the local population is held hostage and will be killed if they try to leave - look at some of the reports out of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers.
And please, if civilian deaths are acceptable, don't cry about terrorism next time around. Was 9/11 a legitimate attack from Al-Qaida?